Challenge at Clinton Global Initiative 2024 Annual Meeting during UN General Assembly
- Applications open for startups offering solutions that can support food system transformation until December 12
- The challenge gives four winners the opportunity to develop innovative solutions in the field of food security in the UAE and expand to resource-limited markets in the countries of the Global South.
- The third edition of the challenge is organized by Tamkeen and the Office of International Affairs at the UAE Presidential Court, in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative, the Ne’ma & Sallal Initiative, and other partners.
The UAE launched the third edition of the Global Food Technology Challenge during the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, which was held in New York City in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly meetings.
The world will face the challenge of feeding an additional 2 billion people by 2050. As global food security challenges grow, the FoodTech Challenge highlights pioneering technology solutions that can transform food systems to address food security threats, especially in the most challenging environments.
The FoodTech Challenge, in its third edition, offers the largest cash prize in the history of the competition, which is organized by Tamkeen and the Office of International Affairs at the UAE Presidential Court, in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative, and the The UAE National Food Loss and Waste Reduction Agency (Naama), and Salla (the leading agricultural technology company in the UAE).
This year, the FoodTech Challenge expands its focus to three key areas: Food & Water, Food & Energy, and Food Loss & Waste. The challenge will crown four startups who will receive a total cash prize of $2 million, support for bringing the winning solutions to market and access to a wide network of partners. These four startups will then embark on new projects and partnerships to develop and scale their pioneering technology solutions, starting in the UAE as a launch pad that will then enable these companies to scale their solutions to the most needy markets in the Global South, contributing to enhancing global food security.
It is worth noting that the UAE currently faces environmental challenges that are likely to become common in many other countries in the future, due to its dry desert climate, scarcity of agricultural land, and limited fresh water resources. Therefore, developing innovative technologies in the UAE to provide food for a growing population, limited resources, and difficult climatic conditions provides solutions that can be applied on a global scale.
The third edition of the Global FoodTech Challenge was launched by the Challenge’s co-chairs, Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri, Director of the International Affairs Office at the UAE Presidential Court, and Rima Al Mokarrab, Chairperson of Tamkeen. The Challenge also joins the Clinton Global Initiative’s “Commitment to Action” efforts in its third edition.
Mariam Al Muhairi, Head of the International Affairs Office at the Presidential Court and Co-Chair of the Food Tech Challenge
In this context, Mariam Almheiri, Director of the International Affairs Office at the Presidential Court and Co-Chair of the FoodTech Challenge, said: “Following the historic announcement at COP28 on sustainable agriculture, resilient food systems, and climate action, and the announcement of the UAE-Gates Foundation partnership on agricultural innovation, it has become clear that food production systems play a pivotal role in the global climate crisis. Therefore, there is an urgent need to take bold steps based on innovation and transformative thinking to reshape the food system, especially with the increasing demand for food, water, and energy.” Her Excellency added: “Through the Global FoodTech Challenge, we aim to enhance global efforts and engage all countries in proposing ideas and developing strategies to support a vital issue such as food security.”
“Innovation is at the core of the UAE’s vision and approach. We have realised that accelerating progress requires integrating pioneering ideas with effective partnerships and smart investments in their early stages, and this approach has proven successful in achieving qualitative results at the local and international levels. The Food Tech Challenge embodies this approach by selecting promising innovators and connecting them with a wide network of strategic partners, providing them with the resources and support they need to scale their solutions and accelerate their efforts towards contributing to achieving global food security goals,” said Reema Al Mokarrab, Chairperson of Tamkeen and Co-Chair of the Food Tech Challenge.
From right to left – Roger Voorhees, President of Global Growth and Opportunity at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and HE Mariam Almheiri
“The impact of food insecurity and undernutrition is a top priority for the Gates Foundation, with our latest annual report identifying child malnutrition as one of the world’s worst health crises. As global food insecurity worsens and climate change continues to impact crop and livestock production, it is imperative to support innovative technology solutions that help stabilize food systems,” said Roger Voorhees, president of Global Growth and Opportunity at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We are proud to partner with the FoodTech Challenge and support their efforts to advance innovation and transformative thinking in agtech to ensure a food-secure future for all.”
The FoodTech Challenge is supported by more entities that seek to enable the food security technology ecosystem, including business incubators and startup accelerators in the UAE such as the UAE startup community “Hub71”, the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center “Sheraa”, and the “StartAD” platform for supporting entrepreneurship, in addition to the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and the office of Al Tamimi & Company.
It is worth noting that the competition attracted more than 1,100 applications from startups from 98 countries in its first two editions, as competitors presented several innovative solutions, most notably the presentation of new technologies for developing carbon-negative plant proteins and means to reduce food waste using image recognition with artificial intelligence, in addition to methods for preserving the cellular structure of food during ultra-freezing.
Previous winners have gone on to achieve notable success, raising additional funding and launching joint ventures. A prime example is IRIS (formerly Red Sea Farms), which has raised over $34 million since winning the competition and is deploying its advanced technologies at Silal Farms in Abu Dhabi.
The application period for the challenge will close on December 12, 2024, with finalists to be selected in April 2025. Participants can submit their applications via the website: www.foodtechchallenge.com.
About the Food Tech Challenge
The FoodTech Challenge is a global competition that aims to discover and support pioneering, innovative, technology-based solutions that aim to develop food systems capable of meeting the increasing challenges in arid, hot and harsh environments that are among the most vulnerable to food insecurity and face a lack of traditional agricultural services, innovations and investments.
The UAE FoodTech Challenge is organized to stimulate innovation in the face of unprecedented challenges affecting food security in an increasing number of countries each year, due to climate change, demographic shifts, and impacts on supply chains. The third edition of the FoodTech Challenge was launched based on three main pillars based on the complementary nexus between food, water, and energy. The competition offers four winners the opportunity to win a shared prize of $2 million by developing their solutions in the UAE and in resource-deficit regions of the Global South.
The FoodTech Challenge aims to empower innovators to build a world where food security is achieved for all. The competition is held in partnership with the UAE’s Naama Strategy, a food waste reduction initiative, Silal, the UAE’s leading agritech company, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative, and other key partners working to enable the foodtech ecosystem.
