The food and innovation players supply chain has joined together to support startups: FoodForward is born, an acceleration programme coordinated by Deloitte, which allies itself with Amadori, Cereal Docks and Finiper Group – the industrial partners who will work with industry to develop new startup businesses of the future – and also primary innovation ecosystem players like Innogest, Digital Magics, Seeds&Chips and Federalimentare Young.
This is an opportunity to open up to a global ecosystem of innovation in order to “capitalise on the value of skills, traditions and culture linked to Made in Italy agri-food” according to James Fanin, Business Developer of Cereal Docks.
FoodForward is already operational: it is still possible to apply for the acceleration programme until the 29th July. Up to 7 startups will be selected, which, from the beginning of the programme, will have access to an initial investment in equity of 150,000€ in total, and in terms of support and consulting services will amount to an equivalent value of up to 350,000 €. Furthermore, at the end of the acceleration program, the project partners have already confirmed their willingness to make additional investments of up to 1million euros.
Once the startups have been selected, the acceleration programme will take place between January and May 2019, lasting 15 weeks, which will provide an intense mix of development and consolidation projects, management training, comparison sessions with mentors and industry experts, and networking opportunities with entrepreneurs, managers and investors from both the Deloitte network as well as the Foodtech ecosystem.
The focus of the program will encourage partnerships between corporate organisations and startups in order to bring innovation into companies and develop new business through synergy between innovative startups and industry.
The call is open to Italian and foreign companies which are either already established or in the process of establishing themselves that innovate in the field of food production and distribution. The innovative trends to reference are, among others: new foods, quality and traceability of food, healthy lifestyle, circular economy, new delivery models, smart packaging and precision agriculture.
For more information please visit FoodForward
