The 21st ICC Conference 2025 (ICC2025) in Vienna successfully gathered the global cereal and pulse community to celebrate 70 years of ICC and to advance science‑based transformation of grain‑based food systems. ICC2025 took place from 23–25 September 2025 at BOKU University Vienna under the theme “Cereals and Pulses: Bridging Science and Innovation to drive the Transformation of the Food System.” Organised by BOKU’s Department of Biotechnology and Food Science and chaired by Assoc. Prof. Regine Schönlechner, the conference was held under the auspices of Federal Minister Mag. Norbert Totschnig, MSc, and the Mayor and Governor of Vienna, Dr. Michael Ludwig. Continuing the tradition of the “Vienna ICC Conference,” it also marked ICC’s 70‑year jubilee.
Scientific sessions on cereals, legumes and their combinations showed how pulses and cereals together open opportunities for innovative, sustainable products, with a strong focus on fermentation and other novel processing approaches for foods, beverages and packaging materials. Food Safety and Analytics contributions demonstrated advanced NIR, modelling and statistics for acrylamide mitigation, oat protein characterisation and improving wheat falling number, integrating big data and gene‑based tools with classical reference methods. Talks on food products, technological innovation and ingredient functionality covered 70 years of pasta and cereal processing, optimisation of waffles and frozen breads, gluten‑free product mapping, new equipment for whole grain flour, and the underused potential of by‑products and alternative crops as functional ingredients.
The Nutrition and Health and Biodiversity sessions highlighted indigenous and climate‑resilient crops (such as sorghum, African pulses, millets, pigeon pea, chickpea and kañiwa), progress in delivering health benefits through crop improvement and processing, and the complexity of assessing functional and health effects of new ingredients. A dedicated whole grain session underlined the public‑health importance of whole grains and the work of the Whole Grain Initiative and Whole Grain Summit, calling for engagement of stakeholders along the entire supply chain to strengthen whole grain promotion.
ICC2025 strongly involved the young generation through oral and poster contributions, which, together with vibrant networking events, was positively reflected in participant feedback on professional networks. With its combination of anniversary reflections, strategy discussions and cutting‑edge science, ICC2025 reaffirmed ICC’s role as a global hub for cereal and pulse science and positioned these crops as central levers for a more sustainable, resilient and health‑promoting food system.
