Submissions Now Open for $1 Million USD Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge

CHICAGO – June 1, 2023 – Submissions for the third annual Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge are now open. Funded by the Seeding The Future Foundation and hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), the Challenge invites scientists, engineers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and multidisciplinary teams from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), non-profits, social enterprises, universities, research institutions as well as small and emerging for- profit enterprises to submit game-changing innovations that will help transform the food system.

The Challenge is focused on high-impact innovations that lead to significant advances in one or more of the following domains: safe and nutritious food for a healthy diet; sustainable practices including food loss/waste reduction; and access to affordable, appealing, and trusted food by consumers. Submissions close on August 1.

“Transformational change is urgently needed to create food systems that improve the health of people and the planet. All game-changing innovations begin with seeds of ideas which need support to grow and become impactful. This is the foundation the Challenge is built on. We are excited and look forward to the highly impactful entries we receive for this year’s Challenge,” said Bernhard van Lengerich, founder of Seeding The Future Foundation.

To incentivize innovation at all levels, ranging from idea generation to development and scale-up, the Challenge offers three levels of awards totaling up to $1 million USD:

• Seed Grants ($25,000 each) will be awarded to organizations that create innovative ideas and have developed a prototype or initial proof of concept demonstrating that their idea is feasible and impactful when scaled.
• Growth Grants ($100,000 each) will be awarded to organizations that have demonstrated their innovation is doable, scalable and have projected both economic feasibility at scale and high potential to be transformative in impacting the health of people and the environment.
• Seeding The Future Grand Prizes ($250,000 each) will be awarded to organizations that have created innovations that are economically feasible at scale, trusted by consumers, and have demonstrated major impact potential benefitting the lives and health of people and the environment.

Winners from the inaugural Challenge share how this recognition has helped support their respective missions:

WorldFish (Grand Prize): “We joined this Challenge because we believe that our approach of making small fish available and accessible to young children and women is a solution that can help many communities tackle nutrient deficits, especially during a global pandemic when people have lost their livelihoods, further exacerbating food and nutrition insecurity. To be announced as a grand prize winner after a very competitive selection process is truly rewarding.” - Quennie Vi Rizaldo, Human Nutrition Specialist and project manager.

International Rice Research Institute (Grand Prize): “The GFSC prize was a validation that recognized the importance of our work, and it helped our team significantly accelerate our efforts to make several arsenic-safe rice varieties available freely. We were also able to share the knowledge we have with national agencies so breeding programs for excluding arsenic from rice grains can be mainstreamed with the goal of benefitting the most stakeholders, particularly rice farmers and consumers.” - Dr. Jauhar Ali, IRRI Senior Scientist and Coordinator, Arsenic-Safe Rice Project.

iDE (Growth Grant): “iDE's recognition as a winner of the Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge has brought significant attention to the organization and its efforts to address food system challenges. The grant has provided iDE with the resources to implement innovative solutions to increase the production of nutritious vegetables, and the recognition has boosted iDE's prominence as a leading organization dedicated to addressing food system challenges worldwide.” - Rajani Khadka Adhikari, Program and Operations Manager.

To view eligibility, FAQs as well as the application and review process, go to ift.org/food-system-challenge.

About Institute of Food Technologists
The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) is a global organization of approximately 12,000 individual members from more than 100 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 advance the science of food as the population and the world evolve. IFT believes that science is essential to ensuring a global food supply that is sustainable, safe, nutritious, and accessible to all. For more information, please visit ift.org.

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.

Media Contact
Dennis Van Milligen
Senior Manager, Public and Media Relations
Institute of Food Technologists
630-853-3022
[email protected]