Tag Archives: networking

Cannabis Quality Conference & Expo logo

Cannabis Quality Conference Dates, Location Announced

By Cannabis Industry Journal Staff
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Cannabis Quality Conference & Expo logo

EDGARTOWN, MA, Feb. 21, 2022 – Innovative Publishing Company, Inc., the publisher of Cannabis Industry Journal, has announced the return to in-person events with the Cannabis Quality Conference & Expo (CQC), taking place October 17-19, 2022 at the Hilton in Parsippany, New Jersey. Presented by Cannabis Industry Journal, the CQC is a business-to-business conference and expo where cannabis industry leaders and stakeholders meet to build the future of the cannabis marketplace.

“Cannabis markets in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are all beginning to get off the ground,” says Aaron Biros, editor of Cannabis Industry Journal and director of the Cannabis Quality Conference. “Taking place in a pivotal year for the cannabis industry and in a location surrounded by new market opportunities, the CQC will deliver hands-on education, networking and business discussions. The venue setting, just a short train ride from New York City and Newark International Airport, coupled with highly focused content, creates a unique business meeting environment.”

The 2022 program will have three separate tracks of educational presentations and panel discussions, focused on Regulations & Policy, Safety & Quality and Business & Operations.

Due to safety protocols and venue restrictions, limited space is available for sponsors and attendees. The CQC is a hybrid event, meaning attendees will have the option to either attend in-person in New Jersey, or attend remotely via the virtual platform. Registration is now open. Click here to stay up to date on lodging, early bird pricing, keynote announcements and more.

The CQC is co-located with the Food Safety Consortium, which will take place immediately following the CQC, October 19-21, 2022. For sponsorship and exhibit inquiries, contact RJ Palermo, Director of Sales, and Chelsea Patterson, Account Executive.

About Cannabis Industry Journal

Cannabis Industry Journal is a digital media community for cannabis industry professionals. We inform, educate and connect cannabis growers, extractors, processors, infused products manufacturers, dispensaries, laboratories, suppliers, vendors and regulators with original, in-depth features and reports, curated industry news and user-contributed content, and live and virtual events that offer knowledge, perspectives, strategies and resources to facilitate an informed, legalized and safe cannabis marketplace.

About the Cannabis Quality Conference & Expo

The Cannabis Quality Conference & Expo is an educational and networking event for the cannabis industry that has cannabis safety, quality and regulatory compliance as the foundation of the educational content of the program. With a unique focus on science, technology, safety and compliance, the “CQC” enables attendees to engage in conversations that are critical for advancing careers and organizations alike. Delegates visit with exhibitors to learn about cutting-edge solutions, explore three high-level educational tracks for learning valuable industry trends, and network with industry executives to find solutions to improve quality, efficiency and cost effectiveness in the evolving cannabis industry.

Cannabis Track Added to 2018 Food Safety Consortium

By Cannabis Industry Journal Staff
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The 6thAnnual Food Safety Consortium Conference & Expo has announced a series of talks focused on cannabis. In addition to the categories such as Operations, Detection, Compliance and Supply Chain, the Call for Abstracts now includes a fifth category in this year’s program: Cannabis Quality.

The Cannabis Quality series will feature presentations by subject matter experts in the areas of regulations, edibles manufacturing, cannabis safety & quality as well as laboratory testing. The Food Safety Consortium itself is hosted by our sister publication, Food Safety Tech, but the Cannabis Quality series will be co-hosted by Cannabis Industry Journal as well.

Rick Biros, President/Publisher, Innovative Publishing Co. LLC
Rick Biros, conference director of the Food Safety Consortium

Citing the need to address safety in a burgeoning market, Rick Biros, conference director, believes education is key to helping the cannabis industry mature. “As the cannabis industry evolves, so does the need to protect the consumer,” says Biros. “Just as we protect the safety of our food supply chain, it is important to educate the cannabis industry about protecting their supply chain from seed to sale. Through these educational talks, we want to help bridge that gap, hosting a forum for those in the cannabis industry to interact with food safety professionals.”

The 2018 Food Safety Consortium Conference & Expo will be held November 14–16 in Schaumburg, Illinois. The event is a top food safety conference that features Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA) industry experts and government officials.

The conference focuses on food safety education and networking, providing attendees information on best practices and new technology solutions to today’s food safety challenges. Previous keynote speakers have included food safety leaders such as Stephen Ostroff, M.D., deputy commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine, U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Frank Yiannis, vice president of Food Safety at Walmart and author of Food Safety Culture: Creating a Behavior-Based Food Safety Management System.

Before submitting an abstract, following are a few points to keep in mind:

  • The abstract should be about 300 words
  • Presentations will be judged on educational value
  • Don’t submit a sales pitch!
  • Presentation time is about 45 minutes—this includes a 10-15 Q&A session

To see the Call for Abstracts and submit a presentation for consideration, click here. The deadline for submissions is May 31, 2018. The conference will notify everyone who submits an abstract on the status of acceptance by June 15.

margueriteICBC

Berlin’s ICBC: Meeting the European Cannabis Industry

By Marguerite Arnold
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margueriteICBC

The International Cannabis Business Conference (ICBC) in Berlin is now officially over. The speeches have been made, the parties have been attended. The hard-working crew behind it all has wrapped up, checked out and is off to Vancouver. And most of all, the marathon of meetings and deal discussions that were the mark of this budding and certainly by now established market are done. Even if there are still details to be ironed out in all the new business in the coming months.

As always, the dilemma for conference attendees was how to spend the limited time in this concentrated cannabis gathering. With all of the networking and excitement, people still wanted to hear the experts who spoke on topics ranging from cannabis financing to actually doing business in Germany to new medical advances. Traffic in the expo section was also heavy, as attendees visited the wide range of vendors. Producers and distributors of both plant and derived product were present, along with vape companies brave enough to compete with Storz and Bickel on their own turf, various tech solutions and of course, international consultants.

As the dust clears and the contracts get signed, what are the takeaways from the second edition of the ICBC in Berlin?

Germany Is Going Green

The simplest takeaway? The ICBC Berlin is not a market to be missed in the future for the global cannabis executive. Even if you are an American firm (and for the most part still largely excluded from a rapidly expanding worldwide trade that is establishing itself now with authority), you need to be here. The contacts you make are global, and you do not want to be left out. For foreign investors interested in this market, it is a must. For everyone else, this is a meet and greet, not to mention education, barnone. The German medical and even prosumer CBD market is attracting the world.

Yes, there have been ups and downs even in the last three weeks that include the crashing of the German bid along with news stateside that the Trump Administration is going to hang Jeff Sessions out to dry for Russia with his latest “Make American States Great For Cannabis Again” contortion.

Guenther Weiglein
Guenther Weiglein, activist patient, being interviewed in front of MedPayRx booth

But here on the other side of the Atlantic, it is clear that the federal cannabinoid horse has left the barn. There are now rumorsfloating that the bid is not yet entirely dead (now apparently in a legal purgatory of appeals and even potentially “bid amendments”) that nobody is willing to go on record to discuss. Beyond that, however, as was clear from the frenzied deal-makingon the floor and off it at the ICBC, the market is open, distributors are finding new channels to move product, and patients demanding access are not leaving the streets.

Far from it. In fact, the budding nascent umbrella national non-profit campaign designed to open access for patients and educate doctors, The German Patients Roundtable, had a huge second meeting during the conference, with both German and international attendees from countries including Israel and South Africa.

The CBD and THC genie cannot be stuffed back into the local bottle. And everyone knows it. This is federal medical reform, and even better, covered under German national public health insurance. Despite the hiccups and challenges that still remain, this is open blue water for a medical market that has never existed anywhere to date.

ICBC logoAnyone with a GMP facility, Euro cleared export rights and crop or product ready to ship will be welcome here in a market that at this point, cannot get enough plant or oil. Edibles are still a to-come discussion.

To the extent that this is also negative, it is very clear that the market is still highly inefficient. Producers who do have productare not being found by those on the ground who want to sell it to patients. That will also begin to change. But for now, many on the ground are playing a digitalized Rolodex game of “who do you know” that still consists of personal emails between conference-met colleagues if not LinkedIn contacts and impromptu (and freebie) favors. Those who hope to gain an income merely by connecting the source of product and outlets the old fashioned way are also about to be left in the dust by a market that will not be held back and activist businesses who are eyeing both the United States and Canada right now (if not Israel and Australia), and translating all of that into both euros and German.

It is also very clear that the savvy Germans who were largely left out of the bid proceedings last time do not mean to sit this party out – and are angling to get into the game however they can. This is taking some interesting forms, but processing and testing are going to be huge issues of the market here for a long time to come. And so is home-grown, high-quality CBD. The German government is even offering tax credits for growing certain kinds of hempright now. Sound familiar Kentucky?

Trends and Takeaways

It is not just the Canadians who are going to get market share. The Canadian LPs are still in a good position to dominate the early market but it is clear that there is still room for others to enter. Whether the government allows an appeal of the court’s decision to hold up, there is a quick bid “redo” for the top 10 finalists, or a second bid, the market has now arrived and is in its second year.

margueriteICBC
Marguerite Arnold presents on the impact of blockchain on the cannabis industry

CBD is going to be an important path to other kinds of provision and cultivation. Despite the widespread misconceptions about Germany being a “CBD only” market (it is not), it is clear that a consumer CBD only strategy will be an interesting path into the market here but not one for the faint of heart. The Canadian companies in particular are beginning to move into the realm of big pharma (their market caps certainly are). But it is also clear that more local competition is hip to the same. And as a result, even this part of the market will be a highly competitive one.

German firms are first at this gate, beyond the big Canadian LPs, but they are not the only ones now in the market. See Dutch, Austrian and Swiss firms, many with pharmaceutical company credits and market entry already under their belt.  Not to mention producers from both Greece and the Baltics. Everyone on the import side is eyeing the opening market and stalled bid as a fantastic opportunity. Look for products from these locales as testing and certification protocols become more effective.

Central to all of these developments? The conference is theplacefor the global cannabis industry to meet and get to know one another, put together by Alex Rogers and a seasoned, international team behind the ICBC.