Deadline: 01-Aug-2022
The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) is inviting applications for the Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge.
The Challenge is a great first step in the right direction. IFT and the Seeding The Future Foundation share the belief that the biggest challenges facing the food system can be addressed when inspired innovators, scientists and engineers across multiple disciplines collaborate to help transform the food systems to sustainably provide equitable access to safe, nutritious, affordable and trusted food for everyone.
Goal
The goal of the Challenge is to inspire and support passionate, diverse, and multidisciplinary teams to create game-changing innovations that will help transform the food system to be more sustainable, make healthier diets more accessible, and empower consumers to make choices benefitting both personal and planetary health.
Focus Areas
- Empower Conscious Consumer Choice
- Sustainable Regenerative Practices
- Safe, Nutritious Food for a Healthy Diet
Type of Award
The Challenge will provide three levels of awards to incentivize transformative food system innovations at different stages of their development:
- Seed Grants ($25,000 each) will be awarded to organizations that are planting and nurturing high-potential, innovative ideas and have developed a prototype and/or initial proof of concept demonstrating feasibility. Innovation must benefit at least one, ideally two areas of the Innovation Focus Area without negatively impacting the others.
- Growth Grants ($100,000 each) will be awarded to organizations that have demonstrated that their innovation is doable and have projected both economic feasibility at scale and high-impact potential to transform the food system. The innovation must benefit at least two, ideally three domains with no negative impact on the others.
- Seeding The Future Grand Prizes ($250,000 each) will be awarded to organizations that have created innovations that are scalable, economically feasible at scale, trusted, and compelling to consumers, and have demonstrated major impact potential to transform the food system. The innovation must benefit at least two, ideally three domains with no negative impact on the others.
Benefits
In addition to a financial award, all awardees will receive several non-financial benefits and incentives, including the following:
- Organizational profile posted on the IFT website
- Features in IFT member communications, including newsletters and social media channels
- Invitation and recognition at the IFT FIRST: Annual Event and Expo, which provides exposure and access to potential customers, suppliers, mentors, and investors
- Initiation into the Challenge’s alumni network
- Seeding The Future Grand Prize awardees will also have access to networking opportunities with potential mentors and investors
Eligibility Criteria
The following organizations are eligible to compete in the Challenge:
- Non-profits located in any country
- Academic or research institutions located in any country
- Early-stage or emerging US or European based for-profit companies (‘small companies’)
Individuals are not eligible to apply. Please note, however, that teams of students or researchers may participate as part of an organization’s submission. Organizations are encouraged to form teams to compete in the Challenge. If two or more organizations form a team to compete, they should choose one of the organizations to serve as the applicant.
For more information visit https://www.ift.org/food-system-challenge/faq