The WFF Startup Innovation Awards, powered by Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) are a global startup competition established to support and showcase innovators and entrepreneurs who are harnessing the power of technology to drive the sustainable transformation of agrifood systems in support of ending global hunger and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Looking for fully-funded opportunities, install the Youth Opportunities Android or iOS App here.
Made possible through a strategic partnership with XTC , the world’s largest startup competition for entrepreneurs addressing global challenges, these awards aim to elevate the next generation of entrepreneurs who are creating new technologies and innovations to benefit our planet and the agrifood systems we need to thrive.
Agrifood systems specialists, innovators and entrepreneurs from around the globe have volunteered to become experts and judges for the WFF Startup Innovation Awards.
Technological and digital innovation will play a critical role in the future of our food. To address the unprecedented challenges facing our agrifood systems, we need to find new, actionable, innovative and inclusive solutions. We also need to ensure that these solutions take into account the complex, interrelated nature of global agrifood systems.
Through the WFF Startup Innovation Awards, we are seeking to identify, elevate and accelerate the growth of startups who show the greatest potential for a positive impact in transforming agrifood systems, aligned to one of four categories: better production, better nutrition, better environment and better life. Additionally, this year, the competition will also have a special award around how the innovation in each of the categories will contribute to the interconnected issues of the 2022 World Food Forum theme, “Healthy Diets. Healthy Planet.”
The goal of the World Food Forum (WFF) Innovation Lab is to bolster innovation for sustainable development in support of ending hunger. Led by global youth, it engages the leaders of tomorrow, elevates the innovators and innovative solutions that are already making a difference, and aims to inspire the world to confront the threats that our agrifood systems face today.
The WFF Innovation Lab consists of hands-on competitions for students and young professionals – including research challenges, startup challenges, boot camps and networking events – as well as Masterclasses with inspirational and educational content from renowned experts and emerging young leaders on how to nurture innovation for a better food future.
This year’s WFF will focus on the focus areas of success to healthy diets and addressing the climate crisis, with the slogan “Healthy Diets. Healthy Planet.”. In the lead up to COP27, the WFF will bring innovators together to raise awareness on the importance of these two issues. The aim is to co-identify out-of-the-box, actionable solutions to minimize and mitigate climate change impacts in our lifetime, while simultaneously increasing global access to sustainable and healthy food.
Benefits
- The Startup Innovation Awards provide finalist and award winners the potential for global visibility, the ability to raise capital, network with global entities (governments, United Nations agencies, corporations, VCs, partners), and gain the mentorship opportunities they need to pioneer technological breakthroughs and help power a sustainable future for our food.
Eligibilities
- The competition is open to companies whose work impacts an element of agrifood systems: production, aggregation, processing, distribution, consumption and disposal of food products that originate from agriculture, forestry or fisheries, and parts of the broader economic, societal and natural environments in which they are embedded.
Application Process
- The WFF Startup Innovation Awards will launch a separate call in June 2022, as well as pull from entrants in the 2022 Extreme Tech Challenge. The competition is open to companies whose work impacts an element of agrifood systems: production, aggregation, processing, distribution, consumption and disposal of food products that originate from agriculture, forestry or fisheries, and parts of the broader economic, societal and natural environments in which they are embedded. Be sure that you are registered for updates: Subscribe to the WFF mailing list and follow us on social media for the start of the call!
- Phase I: 2 June 2022: Launch of the WFF Startup Innovation Awards, powered by XTC, via our website, mailing list, and social media.
- Phase II: The WFF-XTC Startup Cup
July – October, 2022; the WFF selection team will narrow down the list of entrants to an initial group of shortlisted startups to be highlighted on our website and participate in the September semi-finals. The eight finalist startups across the four betters will then give their pitches to the panel of judges in a session during the World Food Forum flagship event in October, with the final award for each of the categories of the “four betters” in relation to the 2022 theme: “Healthy Diets. Healthy Planet.”, as well as one overall winner, the WFF Startup Award Innovator of the Year, to be delivered in the WFF Innovation Award Ceremony.
Looking for fully-funded opportunities, install the Youth Opportunities Android or iOS App here.
Application Deadline: July 15, 2022
Application ClosedOfficial link
