Announcing the semi-finalists of the World Food Forum Startup Innovation Awards 2024!
In partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and sponsored by ADM, Kilburn & Strode, Next Tech Food Factories, Smart Sensors 4 Agri Food, HIGHFIVE, QING Forward Engineering and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Innovation Lab, we congratulate the semi-finalists of the fourth annual World Food Forum Startup Innovation Awards!
🎖️ World Food Forum Startup Innovation Awards semi-finalists in four new categories
This year we introduce four new categories: Digital Innovation in Food Processing, Empowering Women in Agrifood Systems, Food Loss and Good Food for All, for Today and Tomorrow.
🚀 DIGITAL INNOVATION IN FOOD PROCESSING
FoodPilot (France) enables the acceleration and scaling of the urgent transition in the food sector by gaining market share and added value, meeting customer expectations through sustainable development, and managing the cost of progress from field to consumer.
FoodSight (Lebanon) is a digital platform dedicated to transforming the agro-food industry through innovative, sustainable solutions, such as e-learning modules, digital tools integration, and expert consultancy to enhance efficiency, quality, and sustainability in food production and processing.
K Reem (Lebanon): Digital transformation of food safety value chain.
PoultrySync (Dubai) is an end-to-end poultry management SaaS solution that streamlines data in the whole poultry value chain, identifies inefficiencies and pinpoints areas for improvement.
Safi (Canada) is a social enterprise creating the tools for a safe and transparent dairy supply chain in East Africa. Safi has patented the world’s first off-the-grid pasteurization control unit that allows any user to pasteurize milk without the use of on-the-grid electricity.
TINEST/Fresh Fleet (Tunisia) is an innovative IoT-based solution for cold chain traceability, ensuring the integrity of perishable goods from farm to table. Its smart boxes and dynamic QR data loggers optimize logistics, reduce food waste and support sustainable practices in the agrifood system.
♀ EMPOWERING WOMEN IN AGRIFOOD SYSTEMS
Agpreneur (Nigeria) leverages AI-driven education, tailored financial support and digital market access to empower small-scale farmers in aquaculture, horticulture and livestock, promoting sustainable practices and healthy diets.
AgrowSure Products and Innovations (India) designs and manufactures affordable, innovative farm machines tailored for diversified crops, promoting efficient and sustainable farming practices.
D-Olivette Bio-Solutions (Nigeria) provides sustainable clean energy and resource recovery from 100+ types of waste using Big Data, AI & Biogenics.
EcoLiving Community (Indonesia) developed a food waste management program through systematic and efficient application-integrated waste processing. It provides waste collection facilities, processes waste into compost, utilizes the compost as worm feed, produces fish pellets from worm-based materials and markets the products to generate income.
Emata (Uganda) is a digital lender combining advanced technology with strategic partnerships to offer tailored financial solutions. Leveraging data science and collaborating with agricultural intermediaries, Emata enhances agricultural productivity, promotes sustainable farming practices and supports financial inclusion.
Energy Assured (Nigeria) empowers smallholder women farmers with efficient subscription-based mobile solar-powered irrigation (pump) services to facilitate better crop yields, healthier families and lesser environmental impact.
FarmAsyst (Ghana) harnesses digital tools to facilitate access to farming inputs and capacity building for smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana by integrating advanced mobile app technology.
Sommalife (Ghana) helps farmers digitize operations, connects them to markets and helps them become agents of conservation through proprietary software.
Xchange Box Solutions (Nigeria) provides a platform to banks, insurance companies and other fintech companies to make their services available to last-mile customers, enabling extension of micro credit, health and general insurance and payments to rural residents, farmers and rural traders.
🌾 FOOD LOSS
Altered Carbon (UK): A cost-effective smart scent detection for mobile devices.
Bio Natural Solutions (Peru) is a biotech company that develops patented technologies based on the reuse of fresh organic waste, optimizing the management of organic waste to improve the quality of life of consumers globally.
Duhqa (Kenya) connects markets to product sources in the agricultural and food manufacturing sector. Focusing on mom and pop shops, it eliminates brokers in the supply chain and ensures a real time marketplace where farmers or cooperatives can sell produce directly.
GreenBox (Congo) With their energy-efficient, solar-powered cold rooms, GreenBox™ brings refrigeration to off-grid communities, allowing fishermen and farmers to preserve perishable foods and extend the shelf life of perishable goods.
Kilimo Fresh Foods (Tanzania) is a social enterprise that leverages technology to aggregate fresh produce from smallholder farmers and deliver it to B2B customers and thousands of informal retailers in Dar es Salaam.
Mandala Agrifresh (Nepal) is a post-harvest management company on a mission to reduce post-harvest loss in fresh fruits and vegetables through the adoption of low-cost post-harvest management technologies and sustainable practices.
Tagsens (Italy) developed an indicator that dramatically reduces food waste, GHG emissions and waste of essential resources such as water, land and energy.
Tasteme (Taiwan) is a sharing platform that focuses on reducing food waste and offers real-time updates and direct access features, enabling users to quickly find near-expiry food deals. They partner with businesses to promote sustainability and utilize data analytics to optimize supply-demand matching.
🌍 GOOD FOOD FOR ALL, FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW
Auspice Condiments (India) produces 75 varieties of naturally dried, sustainably sourced and minimally processed culinary herbs, spices and seasonings, all crafted by persons with autism.
Auto-Smart Irrigation and Energy (Sierra Leone) provides smart irrigation systems powered by renewable energy sources such as solar panels and bamboo. The technology empowers farmers to cultivate crops year-round, increase food security and improve nutrition and sustainable agricultural practices.
BettaF!sh (Germany) harnesses the ocean’s fastest-growing biomass – seaweed – to create delicious, nutrient-rich, plant-based seafood alternatives. Their innovative use of seaweed enhances flavor and functionality in food and supports ocean regeneration, providing sustainable livelihoods for coastal communities.
Blue Filter (Palestine) has developed an effective, chemical-free and environmental-friendly water purification filter to purify groundwater of nitrates and salts.
Chitosan Egypt (Egypt) is MENA’s first industrial scale chitosan facility pioneering frontiers of biotech to untap new waste2resource bio-compounds that catalyze and democratize farmers’ shift to climate-smart agriculture.
EF Polymer K.K. (Japan) addresses the water scarcity problem with its innovation to develop the world’s only 100% organic and biodegradable super-absorbent polymer by up-cycling crop residues.
NanoInGreen (Argentina) is a green synthesis biotechnology company that uses probiotic lactic acid bacteria as natural factories for highly nutritious ingredients. The unique sequence is capable of delivering differentiating properties to the ingredients.
Nutricandies (Brazil) transforms by-products into nutritious superfoods in a regenerative economy model for the agri-food system, focusing on the cocoa chain.
Oscillum (Spain) develops smart and active packaging solutions for agrifood industry to improve sustainability, reduce food waste and prevent food infections in a simple and easy to implement way.
Plant Biodefenders (Tanzania) produces VURUGA, a biopesticide for sustainable control of pests for smallholder farmers.
SenzAgro Solutions (Sri Lanka) developed the world’s most advanced adaptive irrigation service, which automatically optimizes irrigation, thereby delivering dramatic crop yield increase and water and energy cost savings to farms.
ZeroEx (Germany) is a project developer specializing in Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW). They focus on large-scale carbon removal projects that accelerate natural rock weathering to bind CO₂.
Evaluation Committee:
🙏 A special thank you to our expert evaluators for their valuable time and insights in selecting this year’s semi-finalists.
🚀 DIGITAL INNOVATION IN FOOD PROCESSING
Karanveer (Karan) Anand, Technical Program Management – Leader, Google
Nemanja Grgic, Technical Cooperation Manager, Agribusiness, EBRD
Rita Lousa, Manager Stakeholder Relations and Partnerships, Corporate Affairs, Tetra Pak
Simon Maas, Chairman, Smart Sensors 4 Agri-food
Norbert Reichl, Managing Director, Food-Processing Initiative e.V.
Parikshit Sharma, Partner, IndieBio/SOSV
Jean-Michel Voisard, Food and Market Systems Consultant, International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Bram de Vrught, General Manager, QING Forward Engineering
♀ EMPOWERING WOMEN IN AGRIFOOD SYSTEMS
Paul Belknap, Director, Impact Investing, Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship
Margarete Biallas, Agri-Finance Africa Practice Lead, International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Małgorzata Druciarek, Senior RIS Project Manager/Gender and Diversity Senior Manager, European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) Food
Maurizio Furst, Gender and Development Consultant, Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division, FAO
Carin Gerhardt, Director of Corporate Programs, SVG Ventures
Celia Alija Pérez, Project Manager Entrepreneurship, European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) Food South
Omnia Rizk, Gender and Development Officer, Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division, FAO
Dami Thompson, Founder & Partner, Diligence Africa
🌾 FOOD LOSS
Matthew Biancuzzo, Principal, Accenture Open Innovation (OI), Accenture
Serhat Cicekoglu, Partner, Sente Ventures
Andrew Goodwin, Project Officer, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
Gabor Molnar, Industrial Development Officer, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
Anzhela Movsisyan, Innovation Strategist, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
Adnan Šerić, Head of Innovation Lab, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
Meryem Sghir, Industrial Development Officer, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
Angela Tay, Senior Investment Associate, AgFunder
🌍 GOOD FOOD FOR ALL, FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW
Victor Arimbi, Innovation Specialist, Office of Innovation, FAO
Iride Ceccacci, Associate Director, Head of Advisory, EBRD
Nina Coates, Programme Management and Implementation Specialist, Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, FAO
Rike Dekker, Intellectual Property Expert and Patent Attorney, Kilburn & Strode
Andrew D. Ive, Founder and Managing General Partner, Big Idea Ventures
Lennaert Jonkers, Managing Director, DevelopMinded
Doreen Muthoni Kubu, Junior Investment Analyst, Mercy Corps Ventures
Marco Morbidini, Intellectual Property Expert and Patent Attorney, Kilburn & Strode
Janina Peter, Youth Food Lab Innovation Consultant, Office of Youth and Women, FAO
Molly Stanek, EcoAg Tech, Founder & Principal
Darius Teter, Executive Director, Stanford Seed, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Ana Yaluff, Director of Sustainability EMEA, ADM
Melanie Yelton, Founder & CEO, Grow Big CEA Consultants
What’s next?
📆 September 19, 2024 – Public announcement of finalists
📆 October 16, 2024 – Live finals event & announcement of winners at the 2024 World Food Forum flagship event at the UN Headquarters in Rome, Italy.