Innovation Forum for Regenerative Agriculture and Viticulture
On October 29, 2026, the Tech4Regen program, in collaboration with Changins, will host the second edition of the Innovation Forum for Regenerative Agriculture & Viticulture in Nyon. With this year’s main theme being “
: From Soil Life to Regenerative and Resilient Agriculture,” this event will bring together startups, farmers, researchers, small and medium-sized enterprises, investors, and public sector stakeholders to discuss innovations that can support the sector’s transition.
Technological and Digital Tools to Accelerate the Agricultural Transition
How can we better understand the natural mechanisms at work in soils and crops to support the transformation of agricultural practices? This second edition will highlight solutions developed by AgriTech and NatureTech startups, as well as the results of several pilot projects focused on regenerative agriculture. Measurement technologies, soil and ecosystem monitoring, field experiments, and data analysis will, in particular, help explore how innovation can contribute to better measuring the effects of agricultural practices and strengthening their resilience. The discussions will also go beyond the purely technological dimension to address the financial, regulatory, and structural conditions necessary for deploying these innovations on a larger scale.
Among the various conferences and workshops on offer, several presentations will focus specifically on exploring this convergence between agriculture, data, and digital technologies:
- The Cognitive Vineyard Project with Prof. Markus Rienth, Professor of Viticulture at Changins; Craig S. Arnold, CEO of SwissSoil; and Carrol Plummer, Co-founder & Co-CEO of Vivent Biosignals. Building on an Innosuisse innovation project, the workshop will explore how sensors, soil and plant analyses, and artificial intelligence can guide on-site decisions based on biological signals from the vineyard.
- "Data Intelligence for a Nature-Positive Ecosystem " with Dr. Cara Tobin, Tech4Regen Coach & Innosuisse Coach, Venture Partner & Impact Investor; Dr. Saurabh Pandey, Co-founder & Managing Director of databaum; and Paul Edmunds, Founder & CEO of Aquascope. The workshop will demonstrate how a shared infrastructure combining sensors and data models can help coordinate water management across agriculture, viticulture, forestry, industry, and other uses at the cantonal level.
- Measuring Soil Quality: A Technological Lever for Regenerative Agriculture? Moderated by Dr. Alyssa Deluz of the Federal Office for the Environment, featuring Hélène Iven, Co-founder & CEO of Digit Soil; Dr. Raphaël Charles, French-speaking Switzerland Department and member of FiBL’s extended management team; and Pierre-Alain Urfer, farmer in Champvent. The discussions will compare on-the-ground realities with new generations of soil measurement tools, AI-based predictions, and environmental DNA detection.
- Investing in Resilience: Financing the Transition to Regenerative Agriculture with Ivanoé Koog, Regenerative Agriculture Manager for Switzerland at Earthworm Foundation; Aude Jarabo, Director of AgroImpact; Marc Chautems, Regenerative Agriculture Insurance Lead at AXA Climate; Aymeric Jung, Impact Investing and Regenerative Economy Advisor; and Frédéric Fournier, CEO and Co-founder of Open Forest Protocol. The panel discussion will address the financing and investment mechanisms needed to transform innovations and experiments into solutions that can be scaled up.
For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in French-speaking Switzerland—particularly those active in AgriTech, FoodTech, environmental technologies, data, or artificial intelligence—the Forum thus offers a particularly practical setting to observe how digital technology can support the agricultural transition. Beyond discovering new solutions, these discussions will allow participants to assess how technologies align with farmers’ needs, identify the conditions necessary for their adoption, and explore new use cases related to measurement, monitoring, prediction, and decision support. Finally, the exhibition—featuring numerous tech startups, including Digit Soil, SwissSoil, databaum, DecodeNAture, Aquascope, and Vivent Biosignals—will offer additional insight into the innovations currently emerging at the intersection of digital technology and the life sciences.
