Bilbao, Spain 
May 28th 2026
DELICIOUS joins forces with EPIC Shift to host a round table on the future of the protein market at Food for Future.
The DELICIOUS project, in collaboration with EPIC Shift, is co-organising a round table at Food for Future 2026 under the title «Unlocking the Protein Market: What’s Working · What It Takes to Break Through · What’s Next».
The session will take place on 28 May 2026, from 15:30 to 16:15, at the Auditorium AZTI of the Bilbao Exhibition Centre, and will be conducted in English.
Europe is at a turning point for alternative proteins. Innovation is accelerating, but turning a promising ingredient or formulation into a product that is technically solid, regulatory-compliant, scalable and commercially viable remains one of the hardest challenges in the sector. This round table brings together practitioners who are living these challenges every day, with the aim of sharing real lessons and concrete insights.
The session will be structured around two blocks:
Block 1 · Building a market-ready product. This block addresses everything that needs to happen before a product is truly ready to enter the market.
Block 2 · Getting the product to the market Having a technically solid product is not enough. This block tackles distribution, pricing, consumer acceptance and commercial scalability.
The round table will be moderated by Beatriz Romanos, foodtech specialist and VP of FATE – Food & AgriTech Europe, and will bring together five speakers representing complementary perspectives:
- Max Boniface, CTO & Co-Founder of Väcka, sharing unfiltered lessons from building and scaling a plant-based startup.
- Caroline Idowu, Regulatory Specialist at ATOVA, on how regulatory complexity shapes product development from day one.
- Irene González Pérez, Sensory and Consumer Science Researcher at CNTA, on consumer acceptance.
- Elena Díaz de Apodaca, Senior Researcher at Tecnalia, on the role of research and technology centres in bridging science and industrial market viability.
- Paula Aguado, Project Manager at Clúster FOOD+i, presenting insights from the technology landscape and DELICIOUS project.
For DELICIOUS, this round table is an opportunity to connect the scientific and technological work of the project with the broader market conversation. Our work on improving flavour, texture and aroma in plant-based dairy alternatives through advanced fermentation is grounded in the conviction that innovation needs to be designed with the market in mind from the start — not validated against it at the end.
