Global Food Systems Challenge 2021

The Seeding The Future Foundation has provided funding to the Institute of Food Technologists to launch and conduct the Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge, which will be awarding up to $1 million annually. 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.

At IFT, Their mission is to advance the science of food and its applications across the global food system. As almost 690 million people in the world are undernourished, 60 million more than in 2014, food security has declined as a result of economic slowdowns inhibiting access to food for the poor (FAO 2020). In addition, continuing population growth, urbanization, unhealthy consumption pattern, limited arable land and dramatic post-harvest food losses and food waste are challenging our food system and its ability to sustainably provide nutritious food for everyone.

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Furthermore, COVID 19 has amplified the issues and laid bare the lack of resilience of current food systems. As stewards of our food system, we hold a great responsibility to lead, inspire, and advocate for change. The Challenge is a great first step in the right direction. They believe the biggest challenges facing our food system can be addressed when inspired innovators, scientists and engineers across multiple disciplines collaborate to help transform our food systems to sustainably provide access to safe, nutritious, and affordable food for everyone.

Benefits

  • Seed Grants ($25,000 each) will be awarded to applicants that are planting and nurturing high-potential, innovative ideas and have developed a prototype and/or initial proof of concept demonstrating feasibility.
  • Growth Grants ($100,000 each) will be awarded to applicants that have demonstrated their initiative is doable and have projected both economic feasibility at scale and high impact potential to transform the food system.
  • Seeding The Future Grand Awards ($250,000 each) will be awarded to applicants with a scalable, economically feasible innovation that is compelling to consumers and have demonstrated major impact potential to transform the food system.

Eligibilities

To be eligible for a grant or prize, an innovation should focus on at least two of the domains discussed in the “Domain and Eligibility Details” section below, while not negatively affecting the remaining domain.

  • Safe and Nutritious Food for a Healthy Diet 
    Eligible innovations may improve either food access, safety, affordability, or nutrient quality, contributing to a healthful diet. Specific solutions may include dietary improvement through better macronutrient balance, micronutrient or phytonutrient delivery, plant-based approaches, or innovative ways to use potential medicinal aspects of food. Special consideration will be given to innovations that benefit either specific geographic regions or communities with limited access to healthy food.
  • Sustainable, Regenerative Practices
    Eligible innovations may contribute to improving planetary health by enabling impactful sustainable, controlled environment, or regenerative practices. Specific solutions may include reducing post-harvest food losses or food waste; optimizing plant growth; improving soil health; increasing food and/or crop production while lowering GHG emission, carbon, land, and water footprints; or upcycling agricultural byproducts into beneficial nutrient-rich food or ingredients. Special considerations will be given to innovations that can quantify the potential benefits via accepted life cycle assessment (LCA) or similar frameworks.
  • Empower Conscious Consumer Choices
    Eligible innovations may demonstrate the potential to shift consumer preference and empower consumers to be champions for personal and planetary health. Applicants may consider including a strategy to compellingly communicate the health and sustainability benefits of their innovation to consumers. For example, those benefits may relate to affordable and healthier diets enabled by more sustainable agricultural practices, better food distribution approaches, food waste reduction through better shelf-life management, improved access to perishable or staple food, or better post-harvest technologies. Special consideration will be given to solutions which consider either geographical, economic, or cultural diversity.

These domains are embedded within an overarching food policy framework which can either affect the advancement of healthy diets, sustainable practices, and consumer behavior change or can be affected by them. A policy lens may be applied which could include a perspective on how innovations can either shift the policy landscape or can succeed within an existing policy framework.

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 U.S. based for-profit 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.

Eligible Regions: Open for All

Application Process

Application Materials

To apply for funding, applicants must submit:

  • Responses to the application questions
  • A project timeline and budget
  • Documents to verify their organizational status and financial standing:

U.S. based for-profit organizations must submit

  • Most recent financial statement that includes a budget and revenue (including disclosure of current levels of investment)
  • Articles of incorporation
  • Federal Tax Identification Number (TIN)
  • Certificate of good standing, indicating that the business is properly registered with the state

U.S. based non-profit organizations must submit:

  • Most recent financial statement (audited financials preferred but not required)
  • Most recent 990
  • IRS letter of determination

Non-profit organizations based outside of the United States must submit:

  • Most recent financial statement (audited financials referred but not required)
  • Documentation verifying that the applicant organization is currently registered as a non-profit organization (equivalent to a US 501(c)(3) public charity) in its country. Please note that IFT may follow up to request additional documentation to verify the applicant’s non-profit status.

To ensure equity and fairness in the review process, applicants must have completed all requested materials and submit them by the deadline indicated above. Late or incomplete submissions will not be considered.

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Application Deadline: August 16, 2021

Application ClosedOfficial link

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