Home " Blog " SIAL Analytics, and agri-food innovation all year round

SIAL Analytics, and agri-food innovation all year round

by SprintProject
Published on: October 6, 2026

Every two years, SIAL Paris brings together the global food community around innovations that are transforming the agri-food ecosystem.

In 2024, for the edition celebrating the 60th anniversary of this historic trade fair, SIAL Paris and SprintProject joined forces for the first time around a common dimension: innovation is a strategic lever to support the transformations of the Agri-food sector.

Two years later, this collaboration is taking a new step, driven by a common ambition: to build the dynamic reference base of global FoodTech and make it available to all players in the sector, regardless of their size.

Thus, to extend this momentum between two editions, SIAL Paris and SprintProject designed SIAL Analytics, powered by SprintAnalytics. This new offering allows companies to follow trends, structure their food innovation strategy and mobilize sector experts according to their needs.

SIAL Paris at the heart of the global food community

Since 1964, SIAL Paris has been supporting the evolution of the agri-food industry. Every two years, the trade show brings together those who produce, process, distribute, and envision the agri-food sector of tomorrow. Manufacturers, distributors, restaurateurs, suppliers, start-ups, investors, and experts share their solutions and compare their visions.

This diversity makes SIAL a prime vantage point for observing global agri-food innovation. Visitors can discover products and ingredients, but also technologies, production models, traceability solutions, and digital tools that are transforming the entire value chain.

The trade fair offers a particularly rich source of inspiration. It allows you to identify emerging trends, meet the key players driving these developments, and compare responses to the major challenges facing the industry.

The 2024 partnership around Open Innovation

In 2024, SIAL Paris and SprintProject have co-constructed a study on Open Innovation in the agri-food industry. She analyzed how smart collaborations with startups and other external partners can accelerate the sector's transformation.

The results confirmed the strategic importance of this approach. Among the organizations surveyed, 83 considered Open Innovation important for achieving their sustainability goals. Furthermore, 58 industry leaders identified strategic benefits in their external collaborations.

The study also highlighted a broadening of the scope of innovation. Innovation is no longer a peripheral issue. It impacts operational performance, supply chain resilience, and brand attractiveness. It also helps companies respond to new regulations and create value.

Practices are evolving. Economic pressures, environmental imperatives, and technological advances are accelerating. In this context, inaction leads to a loss of ground.

However, innovation isn't about multiplying initiatives. A shared direction, aligned with business priorities, is essential. This requires monitoring structural trends, distinguishing relevant signals from fads, and assessing the maturity of solutions. It's also crucial to understand where competitors, partners, and customers are already investing.

Artificial intelligence enables the rapid exploration of vast amounts of data. But technology alone is not enough. To inform a decision, information must be verified, contextualized, and structured, while also being formulated in language appropriate to the business.

Gradually, the focus has shifted towards the complementarity between these two approaches. AI, when properly configured, provides speed and broad coverage. Human intelligence qualifies the data, interprets it, and transforms it into usable, reliable information.

At the end of this first collaboration, SIAL Paris and SprintProject wanted to go further. To extend, beyond, access to the expertise, network, innovation and inspiration associated with the trade show SIAL Analytics.

Detect FoodTech trends earlier

A fundamental trend rarely develops in just a few months. Plant-based proteins are a good example. Their growth seems commonplace today. Yet, the first signs were visible for a long time in research, investments, product launches, and market expectations.

When a trend becomes widespread, the best-prepared companies often study it for several years. The same logic applies to cocoa alternatives, fermentation, nutritional personalization, or new packaging.

The challenge lies in detecting these movements early enough. It's necessary to understand their level of maturity, their use cases, and their relevance to the business.

This observation must be continuous. Between two editions of SIAL, new startups emerge. Technologies advance. Partnerships are forged, and some use cases move from experimentation to deployment. Ongoing access to qualified information allows us to anticipate these developments before the market dictates them.

SIAL Analytics to guide your agri-food innovation strategy

SIAL Analytics, powered by SprintAnalytics, SIAL Analytics is a comprehensive offering combining technology, human intelligence, and industry expertise to deliver the best strategic intelligence dedicated to Food Innovation. Each organization chooses the level of support it needs. SIAL Analytics intervenes where it's needed and goes as far as necessary.

Technology

The platform provides decision-makers and business teams with continuous access to reliable international information. The content is based on real-world business use cases. It is structured and contextualized to better understand trends, identify key players, and guide innovation choices. Each insight is verified by human experts.

Proprietary Intelligence

To provide in-depth analysis, SIAL Analytics produces exclusive reports. These reports draw on direct interviews with innovation providers and the work of analysts. This gives the teams access to information not available in public sources.

Sector expertise

When information alone is no longer enough, industry experts step in. They help decipher the data, reveal what it means for each business, and transform insights into informed decisions.

Technology, proprietary intelligence, and sector expertise thus form three complementary dimensions. They are designed to work in synergy.

What teams can do with SIAL Analytics

With SIAL Analytics, users can, among other things:

explore the major trends and sub-trends of food innovation; ;
identify relevant start-ups, solution providers and technologies; ;
understand the use cases and concrete applications; ;
assess the level of technological and market maturity of the solutions; ;
to track the movements of the ecosystem and compare the positioning of the actors; ;
access expert analyses to delve deeper into strategic topics; ;
to call upon sector experts for more in-depth support.

SIAL Analytics goes beyond simply aggregating information. The solution reduces the time between signal detection, understanding, and decision-making. General management, innovation, strategy, marketing, CSR, purchasing, industrial operations, and supply chain departments thus share a common understanding of the market. Each finds solutions tailored to its specific challenges.

Food Innovation All Year Round

SIAL Paris creates a unique event for the global food community, a true source of inspiration. Industry players meet, discover innovations in real-world settings, and forge new relationships. SIAL Analytics extends and complements this dynamic between editions. The offering maintains a connection with trends, key players, and expertise throughout the year, ensuring everyone stays in step with their market.