Cegeka’s 10th Food Inspiration Day: Connecting and Innovating with AI

Cegeka Business Solutions recently celebrated its 10th Food Inspiration Day at the Microsoft Office in Copenhagen. We had a full program with lots of in-depth stories and insights. This milestone event brought together professionals from the food process sector across the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark. The theme of the event? Both inspiration & connection. Curious to find out more? Read this blog post and watch our aftermovie.

Fostering Knowledge Sharing

Reinout de Ruiter, Sales Manager at Cegeka, kicked off the event by acknowledging the delightful conversations that took place during the previous evening’s dinner. It was a great way to start of the event, by enabling attendees to connect. The focus of our Food Inspiration Day was inspiration and connection—connecting with peers, other companies, Microsoft, and the Cegeka community.

If we look closely at that connection, one example really showcases how we can stay in close cooperation with our customers and enable connection between our customers. Cegeka has successfully set up a community within the food process sector, initially spanning the Netherlands. This community facilitates knowledge sharing, collaboration, and innovation. For this food event, attendees from the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark gathered in the conference room, eager to learn and find inspiration.

The Role of AI

In the ever-evolving landscape of the food industry, AI plays a pivotal role. Cegeka recognizes the limitless possibilities that AI offers. To highlight this, we collaborated with community members to create a recipe book for growth. This unique book features customer stories, showcases the added benefit of IT and explores the intersection of food and AI.

In het voortdurend evoluerende landschap van de voedingsindustrie speelt AI een centrale rol. Cegeka erkent de grenzeloze mogelijkheden die AI biedt. Om dit te benadrukken hebben we samen met leden van de community een receptenboek voor groei gemaakt. Dit unieke boek bevat verhalen van klanten, laat het extra voordeel van IT zien en verkent het snijvlak van voeding en AI.

Microsoft’s Vision and AI Focus

Sandra van Leeuwen, Partner Development Manager at Microsoft the Netherlands, set the stage for the event with a powerful message. Quoting Microsoft’s vision—“Empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more”—she emphasized the central role of AI in achieving this goal.

AI and Brain Development

Drawing parallels between AI and brain evolution, Sandra highlighted how our brains evolved to be large relative to our bodies. Similarly, AI has become a powerful force in transforming business operations, opening new markets and opportunities. Just as cooking made food more digestible for early humans, AI acts as our “culinary assistant,” making information more digestible. By streamlining data processing, AI frees up time for intelligent activities, much like cooking allowed early humans to focus on higher-level tasks.

Using AI-Driven Insights

What Sandra did to prepare her session? She used AI to understand the food industry’s challenges and key points. Instead of sifting through piles of information, she relied on concise insights generated by AI. This approach reflects the very essence of Cegeka’s Food Inspiration Day—leveraging technology to inspire and innovate.

Curious for more? Watch the aftermovie of this event below:

Conclusion

Cegeka’s Food Inspiration Day reaffirmed the importance of connection, innovation, and knowledge sharing. As the food industry continues to evolve, AI will undoubtedly play a central role. During the upcoming weeks we will share some more insights from the various sessions that we had during this event, including the future of Finance, Supply Chain and Customer Engagement. But we will also share insights from sessions about Warehouse Management, NIS2, ESG, and a usecase from CZAV and Skytree.

Missed out? We look forward to more inspiring events and continued growth within the food & process sector. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to our team.