Global Food System Challenge

The Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge will provide monetary awards in the form of grants and prizes totaling up to one million US dollars annually. We invite applicants from national or international universities, research institutions, or nonprofit organizations, as well as small or early-stage US or European for-profit businesses.

The Challenge will provide three levels of awards to incentivize transformative food system innovations at different stages of their development:

• Seed Grants ($25,000 each) will be awarded to organizations that are planting and nurturing high-potential, innovative ideas and have developed a prototype and/or initial proof of concept demonstrating feasibility. Innovation must benefit at least one, ideally two domains of the Innovation Focus Area without negatively impacting the others.
• Growth Grants ($100,000 each) will be awarded to organizations that have demonstrated that their innovation is doable and have projected both economic feasibility at scale and high-impact potential to transform the food system. The innovation must benefit at least two, ideally three domains with no negative impact on the others.
• Seeding The Future Grand Prizes ($250,000 each) will be awarded to organizations that have created innovations that are scalable, economically feasible at scale, trusted, and compelling to consumers, and have demonstrated major impact potential to transform the food system. The innovation must benefit at least two, ideally three domains with no negative impact on the others.

Eligibility

To be eligible for an award, the project must be innovative and lead to new advances that benefit at least one but ideally more than one of the intersecting domains of the Innovation Focus Area, shown in the diagram below, while not negatively affecting any of the other domains. Innovations that benefit two or more domains and are at an advanced development stage are eligible for the highest award levels.

Who should apply?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. or European-based for-profit companies (‘small 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.

What are the Criteria? View the Selection Criteria

The Global Food System Challenge is intended to support innovations that benefit at least one of the intersecting domains and that have the potential for significant impact at scale and over time.

Application Timeline for Each Award

Seed Grant Application

• Application deadline: August 1, 2022
• Announcement of award recipients: September 2022

Growth Grants and Seeding The Future Grand Prize Applicants

• Application deadline: August 1, 2022
• Finalists announced and finalist interviews held: October 2022
• Announcement of award recipients: January 2023

Application Materials:To apply for funding, applicants must submit:

• Responses to all application questions
• A project timeline and budget

More info can be found here.