Interviewer: As many in our community may know, you have successfully maintained numerous positions which involved not merely large responsibility, but technical expertise. These include leading R&D projects at Nestlé and also being a Managing Director for the Integrative Food and Nutrition Center at the Swiss Federal Institute of technology (EPFL). Safe to say you are a food expert. What could you say as an introduction, about your background and more specifically, the focus of your work in food science?

Dr. Stefan Meyer: First and foremost, I have always considered myself as an entrepreneur and an innovator, if you will. The vast majority of my time has been spent at the intersection of a lot of different fields — academics and research, business, and technological innovation. As you said I worked at Nestlé as a “quality manager” focused on intelligent packaging and specifically online quality testing.

After I got a sense of how Nestlé operated and some of the larger issues in packaging food, I decided to launch my own startup that specialized in the miniaturization of sensor devices. This was at a time when Industry 4.0 and IoT was only progressing past a stage of infancy.

Interviewer: In relation to the Food and Nutrition Center at EPFL, what kind of work did you do there?

Dr. Stefan Meyer: After I successfully exited my startups, I joined EPFL where I founded and grew a ‘Food and Nutrition Center’ for the University. This was something quite new, as at the time there was not even a food science department. The goal of this Center was to prepare professors with no competence in food science, to be able to tackle some of the most daunting food challenges of the future.

So, this center really attracted a lot of companies with food related problems, that could not tackle these problems in-house (that is to say with their own staff) because they only have chemists and no engineers, sensor experts or mathematicians to solve future food-tech challenges. These companies wanted more insight into future challenges that were only just beginning to affect their companies around their food sector.

My role in that center from the time I founded it, was all about facilitating a new type of conversation: I focused on bringing people together from diverse backgrounds in academia and business, who had little experience with food science. We would then discuss practical and efficient solutions from a multi-disciplinary perspective.

Interviewer: Was there any particular problem during that time that stood out, or influenced your decision to create Ambrosus?

Dr. Stefan Meyer: Of all of the problems that we discussed, the one that continuously arose had to do with sustainable value chains: so the question is about how we can ensure that food production is done in a clean, efficient, and environmentally friendly manner — and in a way that fits consumers’ expectations and choices. Sustainability was also a key priority, especially concerning how we could design reverse engineering processes that can be repeated over and over again.

Altogether, this was really about connecting analytic devices and sensors with the digital world for the first time, to monitor the status of certain products. At that time, a lot of the tech departments at universities were still not interested in this kind of work. So I started gathering the right kinds of people around this sensor-IT problem to start this very important discussion. This problem has led me to where I am right now — with Ambrosus.

Interviewer: Now your official role, as listed on the website, is the ‘Chief Technology Officer’. You are frequently referred to as the head of the Innovation Laboratory (InnoLab) and you also lead operations of Ambrosus. In simple terms, what exactly do you and your team work on, and how does the InnoLab distinguish Ambrosus from other projects that deal with the supply chain?

Dr. Stefan Meyer: Yes so when I started Ambrosus, I really wanted to focus on scientific innovation and building new technology — and not exclusively on the business side of things. So I try to combine several different things in my activities. One of the core components of what we planned for Ambrosus, was what I liked to call the “Innovation Laboratory” or just InnoLab for short. You could say this is our research and development (R&D) facility that is responsible for executing our long term vision for Ambrosus; these innovations feed the tools we have developed to run actual Proof of Concepts (PoC’s) and is also setup to constantly update our catalogue of tools/products that our application engineers and architects use every day with clients. Thus InnoLab is key to develop the technology of Ambrosus. Ultimately, we leverage the most cutting edge technology surrounding smart devices and smart packaging, and find efficient and innovative ways of connecting such smart devices to the Ambrosus Network (AMB-NET).

In terms of the vision that is guiding the development of Ambrosus, there are a two layers that should be discussed: First, the fundamental goal behind the technology is to support honest and fair business growth by helping to transform today’s supply chains. What I mean by this, is that more often than not, global supply chains today are exceedingly complex and opaque. Records are normally kept on hand written documents, and overall the entire process is lacking organization and efficiency. I envision safer supply chains in the future — where companies have more efficient and secure data flows, crime is kept to a minimum, and consumers have the quality assurance they deserve. So changing that paradigm is our primary goal. My team and I lead all business development efforts in Europe and beyond as we work with corporates on PoC’s and enterprise software development, and negotiate contracts for collaboration. There are several very interesting projects we handle and in our hubs I manage creation of different demos and dashboards.

Second, Ambrosus is unique, insofar as it aspires to reshape global supply chains in a holistic and unprecedented manner. What I mean by this, is that we are thinking 10 years into the future in our solution designs. This is how we are different from anyone else: not only are we transforming passive objects into ‘smart’ objects that can be used in the supply chain, but we are designing these smart objects to go above and beyond what currently exists. We want to make our smart products even more intelligent, and expand the scope and grade of what they can sense in certain products. We want to make our smart gateways and containers more complete and tamper-proof than what currently exists in Internet of Things technology.

Ultimately, we aspire to design fully autonomous smart systems that can run on smart contracts and which are fit for fully autonomous supply chains — secure, efficient, and safe. This is the vision that I plan to bring to life in the next 10 to 15 years — it will be a step by step process, but I am convinced that as companies continue to digitalize their supply chains, such cutting edge solutions that are already ahead of the curve, will become more and more optimal for successful supply chain management.

Interviewer: Right now, what kind of things is Ambrosus building to ensure that the vision you propose is achieved?

Dr. Stefan Meyer: So, to come back to what we are doing on the IoT side, I should clarify that we really do much, much more than just “sensor” production and creation. In simple terms, our focus is on supply chain management and Internet of Things connectivity: we want to build a strong and recognized expertise in how to implement our ‘smart’ innovations into supply chain transportation units that are used to deliver billions of tons of products every day.

Out of the team that I have assembled here, we look at what currently exists on the shelf, how we can improve it, how it can be adapted to our client’s needs, and what kind of further developments are needed in order to upgrade the device to the next level of integrity, intelligence or autonomy. On top of that, we also perform all the proprietary research needed to create and innovate smart devices from scratch that can then be customized for very specific problems.

Interviewer: So if sensors are only a piece of the type of development that you do at Ambrosus, what other types of products do you and your team focus on?

Dr. Stefan Meyer: As a lot of these products are a fundamental competitive advantage, I will not go into any specifics. However what I can say, is that our main production lines, are primarily — smart devices, smart gateways, smart containers, and of course bringing integrity and autonomy to any transportation unit. A smart device involves things like tags, seals, trackers, tracers, and also sensors, as well as more analytic tools for specific data. Smart containers have to do with smart ways of transporting products — so things like smart packaging and storage.

Then, finally, smart gateways are used to connect these various products in a secure manner to the Ambrosus Network (AMB-NET). However, the smart gateways we develop can also run algorithms, be given decision autonomy, and most importantly, they can be integrated into Artificial Intelligence Networks whereby they can communicate with each other via a special IoT communication protocol. With this protocol our gateways can form ‘side chains’ of trust for the physical supply chain that is akin to what a blockchain can do digitally. That solution in particular is something we will be explaining more in depth in a future blog post, but the main takeaway is that our product solution is completely end-to-end: we secure the data, as well as the objects that record the data.

Interviewer: How do you and your team go about developing these different products? What are the main considerations you keep in mind while developing a product?

Dr. Stefan Meyer: I really like to emphasise the innovation aspect of what we do specifically at InnoLab. So, a lot of the time our product design begins, by looking at the market and scouting what already exists. Then we look to the specific industries that we are working in and we see if there is any space for a completely new solution.

Once we have a clear product or problem in mind, then we go about configuring and testing different designs. During this phase we really need to be thorough and make sure that not only the correct data can be recorded — but that it can also be recorded in a way that is secure and capable of communicating quickly with the Ambrosus blockchain. This is where InnoLab communicates actively with our blockchain developers to make sure that both visions are aligned. So quite a few different considerations need to be kept in mind.

Once we have a product which is a prospective solution or market need, we normally contact one of our partners to help manufacture and produce that specific product. In the coming weeks, we will be going more in depth in our communications to see who these partners are and exactly why we use certain companies to help manufacture the things we have created. We will also describe how we move from a prototype we create in the lab to an entirely industrialized product; one that is certified, tested, integrated for supply chain regulations, and finally validated for a clients’ needs. Together with partners, we work on business development side of things to conclude partnerships.

Interviewer: In terms of the scope of this kind of a solution, it seems then that it is applicable to virtually any type of supply chain solution. What would you say to a proposal like that?

Dr. Stefan Meyer: I would say that is correct. However, we should distinguish between vertical and horizontal development. What I mean is that we can look horizontally, which is to say, looking out far and wide at all of the different industries that we can build a solution for. Or, we can look at them vertically, which means looking very closely and deeply at how a specific industry could benefit from a more sophisticated and in depth solution.

I think a lot of industries benefit from track and trace, and logistics management. In this sense we can apply Ambrosus to pretty much any type of supply chain — cosmetics, clothing, luxury products, etc. But on the other hand, specific products need to be made for very specific industries, and this sometimes takes some time to think about and create. For example, avoiding serious counterfeiting in the food industry often times requires additional smart objects to record data. Such objects could include a natural feature or a testing to add to a more artificial component. These additional features can ultimately be calibrated to detect compositional or structural characteristics or a certain food. In the pharmaceutical industry, this would be the same but with smart containers for safe and in-real time monitoring of transportation conditions.

So overall, I would say that we are prepared to build a solution for any industry that is concerned with its supply chain sustainability — whether that is in counterfeiting, or more efficient logistics, or smarter inventory management — however some industries will require more sophisticated solutions than others.

Additionally, as a scientist, I can qualify this by saying that all consumer goods with visco-elastic properties packed according to GS1 standards, I label as being “soft solids”: this means that once the properties of a product are established, we simply have to find the adequate tagging system and solution. This is also the reason why our innovation team is multidisciplinary: we have material scientists, electronical engineers, life scientists as well as application engineers.

Interviewer: Have you patented any specific solutions that you think are unique for where the current field of smart devices stands?

Dr. Stephan Meyer: Yes, we either have, or we in are in the process of doing so. For now, I will not say anymore on that as it still remains confidential, but I think in the future we will be releasing individual blog posts about some of our patents for the wider public to see and understand the specific kind of innovation we have been developing.

Interviewer: Could you walk me through what an average day looks like for you? How often are you in the thick of designing and testing products? How often are you corresponding with corporate partners or traveling?

Dr. Stefan Meyer: I would say that my time is spread quite well between planning and managing our hubs, strategising and thinking of new kinds of areas or things to investigate, and then traveling to various events or meetings with client companies, or manufacturing partners to discuss how we could work together or build a specific solution. When I am in the InnoLab I meet with the Lead Engineers to discuss future product development, and also coordinate with the ‘Solutions Architects’ about what they are working on.

Something I should emphasise is that a lot of care needs to be taken in effectively communicating the innovation and developments that we have been building. Because it is such a huge competitive advantage, we need to always coordinate what we want to keep in development, and what we want to allow business developers to use to market to client companies. Coordinating all this between all the Solutions Architects and business teams is key.

Interviewer: Is there a specific mindset or guiding philosophy that you follow in your work?

Dr. Stefan Meyer: Yes, and this is something that really should be kept in mind. Right now, we are not trying to create a perfect solution for every single supply chain problem in every single industry. We focus on looking at what exists, and then making what exists better so that it then is more difficult to counterfeit, or easier to trace, or more efficient to manage. So, our focus is on building products that make sense. Products that can have a practical effect for companies today, and that can also drastically improve upon products available on the shelves. In other word, we listen and collect our client issues and propose immediate as well as long term solutions

Often times — well almost all the time for the Innovation part of Ambrosus– the development is really much further ahead of most of the innovation that is currently being used or that is already on the market. So, what this means is that a lot of times we have very sophisticated and next-level type solutions, but companies aren’t even thinking in terms of those yet. Industry 4.0, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, are still very new things and as such it will take companies time to acclimate to the new advantages and benefits that IoT and blockchain can bring. In the meantime, Ambrosus can still solve all of the current problems that companies face such as end-to-end traceability, full party logistics, and optimised data management. The rest will come in time.

I should also mention that this approach that we take is very much appreciated by our clients because they see Ambrosus as a long-term partner who clearly understands the long-term problems their supply chains are facing. They are more comfortable working with us, as we bring a very broad and multi-faceted perspective to their problems.

Interviewer: Looking ahead at where you want to take Ambrosus, what research areas do you really want to emphasise as most important for the development of smart devices and containers?

Dr. Stefan Meyer: Yes, so very briefly I will lay out the 4 main areas where we believe we can improve the most products and make them fit for being next-generation instruments used in the supply chain.

First, is Security. We need to focus on how to make smart objects more tamperproof and secure, especially against anti-counterfeiting or cybersecurity attacks. In relation to sensors (which is a type of smart device) this could involve encrypting the data to add integrity or to verify the performance of other sensors.

Second is Autonomy. We want to increase the smart device’s ability to regulate itself, as well as other devices in its vicinity. This has a lot to do with edge computing and AI, and we have a few particularly advanced innovations that we expect to be quite successful. In this area in particular we are building the knowledge base from which we will be able to propose customized architectures for various industries.

Third is Networking. This is the heart of IoT challenges, insofar as we want to create devices that are more ‘smart’ in how they communicate and detect one another as well as the central gateway. Here we tackle the field of Side chains, which is a very competitive topic and one that opens a number of opportunities to solving real-world problems.

Fourth is any solution which improves the ability for IoT systems to be integrated into transportation units. The main trends in this area concern Printing systems. This is about making it more convenient to place devices on products, as well as making them much more environmentally friendly.

More specifically, high tech printing systems help re-configure how we can tag products: with efficient printing techniques, a ‘unit’ can change from a product plus a package to just a single product that has a tag stuck to it in an irremovable manner. In this way, if the tag, the package, or the product is tampered with or badly manipulated, the unit will react. More practically, imagine an RFID tag stuck onto an olive oil or a wine bottle. In itself, this is a nice tracking solution, but the tag is actually only on the pack and not in the product. Because of this, it makes it pretty easy for hackers to counterfeit the bottle by removing the tag or tampering with it in some way (i.e. by sticking a needle in the cork). As such this kind of a solution needs more security. Now consider if we sealed the cup and applied hydrocolloids on top of the bottle to ensure that the cork is clean and has not been opened. Then we can put a tag inside the inner casing of the bottle, and in this manner the tag becomes linked to the bottle and the oil or wine at the same time. In such a scenario, no one can put a needle through the cork and extract the product, without it being detected.

Overall, we believe that if we can take any passive device or container — and improve them across these four areas, then such devices will become not only smart, but truly innovative and revolutionary, and also practically disrupt how supply chain are managed nowadays.

Interviewer: As a final question: you have mentioned Industry 4.0, and you have mentioned making a lot of these products in light of the beginning of a Fourth Industrial Revolution. In an age of digitalization, where data and artificial intelligence is concentrated around Internet of Things (IoT) technology, what do you see going forward, as the future of food in this kind of world?

Dr. Stefan Meyer: Let me give you a more holistic and general perspective of what I see in this area: In the future we will have a lot more personalisation in terms of what we eat, and what kinds of medicines exist. The medics of the future will not be chemically based — but rather — biologically based. You will have to make a medicine or a vaccine 2 hours before it is used to help the patient with his illness. At the same time there will be an increased consumer focus on home care and personal nutrition.

In light of such a reality, I think problems of supply chain fragmentation and localization will become more and more apparent as more modifications to the ‘last mile’ of delivery systems will be needed in order to accommodate a more ‘on-demand’ and ‘personalised’ value chain. Overall supply chains are going to have to go through drastic modifications whereby linear supply chains will end up becoming more networked and open to dangers like counterfeiting and bad products.

Let’s imagine you are living in a flat in New York City. You work, so every day is a busy day, just as it is for the other millions of people living there. In the future we very well could have robots making our food, or our food will be prepared in what I think of as ‘street factories’. These will be shops or stores that are a mixture between a large scale manufacturing factory and a restaurant. And the basic idea is that people will come and select from a massive variety something that they want to eat. Then they will just pick it up quickly and take it somewhere else. In this kind of a reality you have a lot of different ingredients coming from all over, and all converging in this ‘street factory’. As a result the supply chain will become much more fragmented with high amounts of personalisation. And in the future, it won’t matter whether the food is delivered with a drone or delivered by hand — the last mile convergence of the food chain will be inevitable.

So when this happens, and there are quick food ‘Restaurant-Warehouses’ what is the main consequence? There will be tons of different products coming in from all over the world — all the time. Imagine the fake products that will enter. At this point, there will be no brand to destroy, and thus no big player concerned with the problems at hand. In this sense, having a more transparent supply chain under control is something that becomes an absolute necessity.

That is the kind of reality I suspect will come to pass in the future, and that is why I think that what Ambrosus is doing is also something that will be a backbone for the future — and all of the smart cities involved.

Interviewer: Dr. Stefan Meyer, thank you for your time and this fantastic interview.

Dr. Stefan Meyer: Thank you. Always delighted to talk about my passion!