Nutreco is launching a new way to kick-start breakthrough solutions with the Nutreco FeedTech Challenge, centered around the question: “What is your breakthrough innovation—that CANNOT wait?”. In its continuous quest for innovation in animal nutrition and aqua feed, Nutreco calls on the brightest minds to help realize sustainable food production for a growing world population. Challenge themes are nutrition against antimicrobial resistance; feed-to-farm efficiency; and young animal nutrition.
The winner receives the unique prize of a scientific, on-farm validation trial in one of Nutreco’s research farms. The Nutreco FeedTech Challenge offers a “greenhouse and pressure cooker” environment aimed at identifying, nurturing and enriching high potential concepts in pilot or proof-of-concept phases. Nutreco has been at the forefront of some of the major innovations that have made food production more sustainable.
The prize is “the biggest boost any start-up could wish for,” says Nutreco CEO Knut Nesse. “At Nutreco we focus on bringing new science and technologies to farmers, faster and more effectively. We know that validation and knowledge on how to apply new technologies in a real farm environment are crucial for farmers to embrace innovation.
“This challenge, and in particular the validation trial, can provide a significant contribution to introducing new breakthrough innovations into real life," Neese continues. "For start-ups, it is a great opportunity to accelerate the development of their innovations, possibly even leading to a funding offer from Nutreco or one of our partners.”
Open platform
Over a competition period of two months, contestants will participate in an online platform where entries are open for comments, discussions and contributions from others. This provides a unique opportunity to connect with other start-ups, industry experts, scientists, and ultimately with farmers and the rest of the world. In this respect, the Nutreco FeedTech Challenge is different from most other start-up competitions.
Prof. Dr. Ir. Daniel Berckmans of KU Leuven chairs the international jury. He is an expert in animal and human health engineering and one of the pioneers of precision livestock farming. The other jury members are Adam Anders, Prof. Dr. Johan Verreth, Dr. Jason Clay and Viggo Halseth.
In the first phase from Nov. 29 until Jan. 17, 2017, entries receive valuable feedback and enrichment from industry experts and scientists. An expert jury will then select ten finalists, who will receive further feedback and training in pressure-cooker sessions during the two-day Nutreco FeedTech Challenge Event on Feb. 22 and 23 in The Netherlands.
To join the challenge or get more information go to www.nutrecofeedtechchallenge.com.
