CHICAGO – October 1, 2024 – The Seeding The Future Foundation and Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) are proud to announce the return of the Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge, which awards USD $1 million every year to scientists, engineers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and multidisciplinary teams across non-governmental organizations (NGOs), non-profits, social enterprises, universities, research institutions, and small and emerging for-profit enterprises for their innovations that will help transform food systems globally.
Since its inception three years ago, the Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge, hosted by IFT and initiated and funded by the Seeding The Future Foundation, has attracted over 2,400 submissions. Each year the Challenge provides three levels of awards:
Up to two Grand Prize winners (each receiving USD $250,000)
Up to three Growth Grant winners (each receiving USD $100,000)
Up to eight Seed Grant winners (each receiving USD $25,000)
Winners are selected based on their food system innovations being doable, having projected economic feasibility at scale and high-impact potential to improve the lives and health of people and the environment.
“Science, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship are key pillars to transform food systems on a global level and the need for climate-positive and human-centered food solutions becomes more urgent every year,” said Seeding The Future Foundation founder Bernhard van Lengerich. “The purpose of the Challenge is to inspire and reward teams of innovators who are creating impactful ideas that address key issues facing food systems globally. Solutions with the highest likelihood to win are those that focus on the intersection of safe and nutritious food, sustainable practices, and equitable access to food that is affordable, attractive and trusted.”
Applications for the fourth annual Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge open on November 1, 2024, and close on January 6, 2025. Applicants interested in showcasing their food innovation and potentially winning a portion of the USD $1 million prize pool can start preparing their submissions now. To learn more about the application process, click here or go to www.ift.org/food-system-challenge/application.
“For 85 years, IFT has been proud to support the advancement of food through science, technology, and innovation. Our diverse and passionate community, represented by more than 100,000 professionals in the food sciences, are helping improve food nutrition, security, and sustainability every day, and we are proud to once again support the Challenge as it helps inspire the next generation of food innovators to do the same,” said IFT CEO Christie Tarantino-Dean.
For the first time in this coming challenge round, applicants who pass the first phases of the review process can earn a spot in the Seeding The Future Global Food System Innovation Library and Network, a peer reviewed, dynamic, interactive, and searchable database of Challenge applicants and their innovations. The database, which is currently in development, will enable AI-assisted searches to find innovations or organizations that focus on specific food and agriculture issues; sustainable development goals; planetary health factors such as greenhouse gas emissions, water, land use or biodiversity; as well as field of application such as post-harvest loss reduction, school feeding programs, or biofortification.
There is also a special feature where solution seekers can connect with solution providers to collaborate and accelerate their innovation. Each entry includes organization name, type, website, project title, executive summary, a description of the innovation and its benefits, and projected impact.
The database will be available to leading global organizations such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Welthungerhilfe and organizations with investment interest such as venture capital or private equity firms, as well as other private or public nonprofit organizations for further support and to accelerate reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
To learn more about the Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge, click here or go to www.ift.org/food-system-challenge.
About Seeding The Future Foundation
The Seeding The Future Foundation is a private, non-profit organization motivated by its core value that everyone should always have equitable access to safe, nutritious, affordable, appealing, and trusted food. It seeks to inspire innovative solutions that can help transform the global food system to be more sustainable and benefit the health of people and the environment. The Foundation provides seed funding and support to promising ideas and high impact innovations to improve food systems globally, technologies to reduce post-harvest losses in developing regions, as well as foundational work in academia and research. For more information, please visit seedingthefuture.org.
About Institute of Food Technologists
The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) is a global organization of approximately 11,000 individual members from more than 90 countries committed to advancing the science of food. Since 1939, IFT has brought together the brightest minds in food science, technology and related professions from academia, government, and industry to solve the world’s greatest food challenges. IFT works to ensure that its members have the resources they need to learn, grow, and innovate to advance the science of food as the population and the world evolve. IFT believes that science and innovation are essential to ensuring a global food supply that is sustainable, safe, nutritious, and accessible to all. For more information, please visit ift.org.
