2026 Tufts Future Food Innovation Day
Event description
On Thursday, January 8, 2026, Tufts University will host its fourth annual Future Food Innovation Day—a day-long, in-person gathering focused on the future of food and the convergence of agriculture and biotechnology. This high-level event will explore how food innovation can help advance national security, strengthen supply chains, and ensure a more abundant, resilient future.
GFI President Bruce Friedrich will be featured in a morning fireside chat alongside Dr. David Kaplan, professor and director of Tufts’ Center for Cellular Agriculture. Together, they’ll discuss the global momentum behind cultivated meat and other alternative proteins, and how scientific innovation can play a catalytic role in food system transformation.
Event location
GFI speaker
Bruce Friedrich
PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, GFI
Bruce is a TED Fellow, Y Combinator alum, and popular speaker on food innovation. He has penned op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, Nature Food, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Wired, CNN, and many other publications. He has represented GFI on the TED Radio Hour, New Yorker Radio Hour, the Ezra Klein Show, Making Sense (Sam Harris), and a variety of other podcasts and TV programs. Bruce’s 2019 TED talk has been viewed more than 2.4 million times and translated into 30 languages.
Bruce’s book Meat has earned rave reviews from CSIS director of global food and water security Caitlin Welsh (who penned the foreword); former UN World Food Program chief Ertharin Cousin; former UNFCCC head Christiana Figueres; SpaceX board member Steve Jurvetson; Harvard University’s Cass Sunstein, Stanford University’s Charlotte Pera; and others. Says Welsh: “This book explains the imperative to transform our food systems, and lays out a game plan to get us there…. Meat is as important as it is enjoyable.”
Bruce graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown Law and also holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University, the London School of Economics, and Grinnell College.
Upcoming events
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Join charisma expert Olivia Fox Cabane, who will share research-backed techniques for building trust, communicating with confidence, and increasing your influence in high-stakes interactions.
The Science of Alt Protein: Growth factors—Driving cultivated meat cost and scalability
Learn how researchers are developing innovative approaches to reduce growth factor costs and make cultivated meat production more affordable.
The Future of Meat: Technology, Sustainability, and the Meats of Tomorrow
Bruce Friedrich heads to The Commonwealth Club for a conversation about Meat—and why rethinking how we produce meat could shape the future of food.
Fish & CHIPS: Collaborative Huddle for Ideation & Problem Solving
Calling all cultivated seafood researchers and innovators! Join us for our next collaborative huddle on September 29th at 11:30 am ET.
Fish & CHIPS: Collaborative Huddle for Ideation & Problem Solving
Calling all cultivated seafood researchers and innovators! Join us for our next collaborative huddle on September 29th at 10:30 pm ET.
