NewForesight CEO Lucas Simons attended a summit of the World Economic Forum in Tianjin from September 10-12, with the theme “Creating Value through Innovation.” More than 1,900 participants, ranging from major multinational, governments, media, academia and civil society, and representing 90 countries, gathered together to explore the ways in which innovation can generate better value for people, organizations and society.

In 2011, the World Economic Forum honored Lucas as a Young Global Leader, for his commitment and accomplishments in the field of sustainable trade, agriculture and rural development. The Young Global Leaders meet every year in China at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions.

This year, the WEF regional summit of South East Asia also took place in Tianjin. Lucas was invited to participate there in a panel on Food Security and Nutrition. The main message he wanted to get across was that the producers we depend on to provide our food are the ones that lack food the most. Many smallholder farmers are locked in to a poverty cycle. Quality of produce should be valued over a low price in order to secure future food supply. To deal with this systemic problem, collaboration between major stakeholders is needed. This message was well received by the audience, particularly since Food Security is high on the agenda in South East Asia following the recent powdered milk scam in the region.