Do you have an innovative food or packaging product made from seaweed? A totally new concept that you think can convince European packaging or food markets? Or an outstanding packaging solution or tasty, nutritious food product already on these markets but it just doesn’t get the attention it deserves? Then we are looking for you! Join the NSF Seaweed Innovation Challenge and let us help you to get more seaweed-based products onto European markets and to consumers.
In the NSF Seaweed Innovation Challenge we want to connect innovators with large European market players. If you are an innovator with a promising concept, you can submit your pitch for assessment and evaluation by North Sea Farmers, Brave New Food and a jury. On June 8th, we organize a pitch event in which the best ideas will be presented to a jury of influential market players, being: Amazon, Colruyt Group, DS Smith and Nestlé. The 4 best pitchers win a dedicated brainstorm session with the jury companies to explore potential scale-up projects in which you could collaborate.
The closing pitch event presents an excellent chance to broaden your network. You will have the opportunity to interact with numerous visitors from major food and packaging companies, as well as investors. So even if you’re not one of the winning pitches, you still have the opportunity to connect with a large network of companies and partners. Besides the event, everyone that submits a pitch, will receive a half-year free membership at the NSF network, the most dynamic seaweed network in Europe. Therefore, don’t hesitate to join this challenge!
Finding a suitable market and being able to scale is a challenge many in the European seaweed industry are facing at the moment. Understandable, because this is a difficult phase seaweed entrepreneurs find themselves in. Many b2b or b2c customers are unaware of the benefits of seaweed based products. At NSF, we believe that there needs to be a continuous and active dialogue with these markets, and the best people to initiate this dialogue are innovative entrepreneurs like you. Show them what great seaweed-based products you have invented. Tell them why you believe in the benefits of seaweed and the quality & functionality of your product. This Seaweed Innovation Challenge wants to give you a forum to share your story. With your active participation we may yet again come one step closer to convincing markets to adopt more seaweed products and as a result find these seaweed products in our daily lives.
Who are we looking for
We are looking for start-ups, SMEs* or innovators with an innovative seaweed-based food product or packaging solution, ready for scale-up.
What products we are looking for
We are searching for packaging and food product concepts that have a working prototype, which we can physically see and touch. To be more precise, the product should have at least TRL7, indicating that it has demonstrated its functionality in a relevant environment. The product doesn't necessarily have to be new, but your aim should be to scale it up.
What we offer
We see this challenge as an opportunity for start-ups and SMEs to connect to large corporates and create visibility within the BNF and NSF international network. Therefore, there is something to gain for all participants of the challenge.
To all participants
To all participating parties, we offer:
- direct exposure to all jury companies
- Brave New Food
- North Sea Farmers
- over 50 food corporates and investors
- a half year membership at the North Sea Farmers network.
To the top selected pitches
The best selected pitches are invited to the live pitch event on June 8th in The Hague, NL. Here, each participant will have the opportunity to pitch their idea to the jury, as well as to a wide range of network partners from NSF and BNF that will be present at the event. There will be some match-making opportunities and you will have exposure to potential investors, buyers or collaborators. If you cannot attent the event in person, you can still participate and pitch your product in a video!
To the winning 4 pitches
The winning pitches will get the opportunity for having a one-on-one brainstorm session with the jury members. The focus will be on how to bring your product to the next level and what a potential collaboration might look like. Additionally, the winners will receive a free 1-year membership at North Sea Farmers.
With this, we hope to help you accelerate your innovation and business and maximise your contribution to a sustainable food/packaging system. Our jury members and partner network have access to the best facilities, resources across a wide scope of industries and disciplines and to potential investors and partnerships worldwide. Benefit from our many years of experience and network building!
Requirements for pitchers
What food products can join the challenge?
For food you pitch your food end-product (e.g. burger) with seaweed or a food additive or functional ingredient made from seaweed. It should be an existing prototype, not a concept only existing in PowerPoint.
What packaging products can join the challenge?
For packaging more or less the same applies. It can be a seaweed-based packaging end-product (e.g. take-away meal box), or it can be a seaweed-based ingredient that can be used for or in packaging material.
Requirements for both categories
- Each pitch needs to comply with the following minimum requirements:
- Your product is a food or packaging product or solution
- You are a start-up, SME or innovator ready for scale-up
- Your product is based on seaweeds
- Your product is a proven concept with a TRL of 7 or higher
- It needs to be a physical and functional prototype as a minimum
What we are not looking for
- Products with micro-algae instead of seaweed
- The product may contain microalgae, but this is not a micro-algae innovation challenge
- Products based on wild-harvested seaweed with no intention to switch to cultivated seaweeds in the short to medium term
- Products with development stage smaller than TRL7
How does it work?
- Send in a short and concise pitch deck with your idea on BNF’s Open Innovation Platform
- As soon as you have uploaded your pitch, you will receive a confirmation so that you know that we have received your pitch
- Your pitch is only visible to North Sea Farmers, Brave New Food and the jury members
- After the deadline, North Sea Farmers, Brave New Food and the jury will assess all pitches individually and invite the best ideas with the most interesting products and solutions to our live Pitch Event on June 8th in The Hague, NL
- After the best pitches have been chosen, all submissions will also become visible to the North Sea Farmers and Brave New Food Network partners.
Your pitch
- Send in a short and concise pitch deck of your solution (max. 6 A4 / 18 slides) with description of the following two parts:
- A description of your product or solution
Give a short description of your product or solution, as detailed and visual as possible. In which TRL-phase is the solution? - A description of your company & team
How and when was your company founded? In which phase are you? How many people? In which market are you active? Also a short description of the (managing) team
- A description of your product or solution
- It should be in English
- The pitch may be submitted in free form (presentation / slide deck, letter form), but must be uploaded as a PDF file (landscape or portrait A4 - max. 30MB). Videos, example websites, etc. can be included as a link
Timeline
- 30th of April at 17:00: deadline pitch submission
- 1st of May to 17th of May: Selection period top 10 pitches
- 18th of May: Announcements selection & invites for pitch event
- 8th of June: Pitch event
- 9th of June: 1:1 brainstorm session between jury member and winning participants
About us
North Sea Farmers (NSF) is an independent and non-profit sector organisation for the European seaweed industry. By enabling their members to become successful with their seaweed ambitions NSF hopes to shape an innovative and prosperous sector in Europe. NSF works in the entire seaweed value chain and facilitates knowledge exchange on sustainable seaweed cultivation, production, marketing, education, policies and research, and facilitates joint innovation projects. NSF’s activities are mainly focused on, but not limited to, the Greater North Sea Area.
* SME definition: Small and medium sized enterprises. Staff headcount < 250, turnover < € 50 m.
For any questions regarding this challenge, don’t hesitate to get in touch via the Q&A module on top of the page.