Swiss technology group Bühler has announced its first edition of Start-up Sprint 2024, an innovation challenge designed to identify and nurture groundbreaking innovations in the food and feed value chain. With Start-up Sprint 2024, Bühler India is inviting participation from growth stage start-ups with a market-ready solution. This start-up challenge aims to foster synergistic collaborations between innovative start-ups, Bühler, and the broader industry ecosystem, the company said in a statement.
The Start-up Sprint 2024 Challenge invites start-ups to compete in four pivotal categories — digital transformation, sensor technologies, sustainable food processes and future food technologies.
Digital transformation category is for start-ups providing digital solutions for primary and secondary processes of grains and foods. Sensor Technologies category is for start-ups with innovative sensor technologies that can be integrated into primary and secondary food processing value chain to gain high efficiency during the process. Sustainable Food Processes is for start-ups that provide novel technologies and methods for processing food and feed to create a sustainable impact. Future Food Technologies category is for inviting early to growth-stage start-ups providing innovative solutions for cellular agriculture that have potential to create a sustainable impact for bio-processed food and feed.
Unique opportunity
The application for Start-up Sprint challenge opens on June 25, 2024, and will remain open until August 11, 2024. After an evaluation process, the shortlisted start-ups will present their solutions to experts and business heads at Bühler India on October 4, 2024. Selected start-ups will gain the unique opportunity to validate their processes or technologies at an industrial scale with Bühler. This includes opportunities to co-develop a Proof of Concept (POC) with Bühler at one of their Application and Training Centres, gain access to relevant process know-how and business expertise and build on Bühler’s global network of customers and innovation partners. The overall support from Bühler to Indian start-ups through this sprint sums up to ₹20 lakh, the statement said.
Garima Chhabra, Collaborative Innovation Lead at Bühler, said “With Start-up Sprint 2024, Bühler presents a unique opportunity for the Indian start-up to show case their trailblazing work, collaborate with us and drive transformative changes in the food and feed industry. By combining our expertise with the innovative solutions developed by these start-ups, we can address the industry challenges and pave the way for a more sustainable future. We eagerly anticipate the groundbreaking ideas that will arise from this challenge and make a lasting impact.”