Unilever Kenya Open Innovation Challenge Information Session and Q&A
Innovate UK Global Alliance Africa in partnership with Unilever Kenya invites you to attend an online launch of our Open Innovation Challenge to find innovative solutions for processing millet (and other high fibre grains).
Recording and slides now available
Download slides:
2 – Introduction to Global Alliance Africa and Open Innovation
3 – Introduction to Unilever Kenya
4 – Unilever Kenya Open Innovation challenge
12:00pm -1:30pm GMT | 3:00pm – 4:30pm EAT
Overview
The goal of Global Alliance Africa’s Open Innovation intervention is to help African companies find innovative solutions to technical problems that their traditional supply chains cannot solve. We do this by promoting cross-sectoral innovation transfer from organisations beyond their usual supply chains. Using our bespoke platform, we run Innovation Exchange Challenges to match real industry problems for large businesses with innovative companies or academic institutions who can provide novel, market ready solutions to those problems.
About the Challenge
Global Alliance Africa and Unilever Kenya are looking for innovative ways to process millet (and other grains) to produce convenient, fortified consumer products. Due to this nutritious grains’ physical variability, processing can be inefficient, and there are challenges in producing preferable formats. Unilever Kenya is seeking innovative solutions beyond commonly used/existing technologies to produce millet food products with consumer appeal and zero waste, using circular economy principles. They are also open to wider use cases involving other grains. Solutions are invited from, but not limited to, the following sectors: Agriculture, Manufacturing, Chemistry, Biotechnology, Design, Health, AI.
Up to GBP 40,000 seed funding (Subject to T&C) is available for this challenge and Africa-based entrants, UK-based entrants and those from RoW are invited to apply. The winner of these innovation challenges will pitch to Unilever Kenya and will be invited to collaborate with them on a trial project.
About the event
This event marked the formal launch of the Challenge and provided a Q&A session to participants. We invited potential solution providers to this webinar as an opportunity to learn more about the challenge area.
Agenda
- 12:00pm GMT/3pm EAT – Welcome & Housekeeping
- 12:10pm GMT/3:10pm EAT – Introduction to Global Alliance Africa & Open Innovation
- 12:20pm GMT/3:20pm EAT – Introduction to Unilever Kenya
- 12:30pm GMT/3:30pm EAT – Unilever Kenya Open Innovation Challenge
- 1:00pm GMT/4pm EAT – Q&A
- 1:20pm GMT/4:20pm EAT – Next Steps
- 1:30pm GMT/4:30pm EAT – Close
Related Opportunities
Open Innovation Challenge: Innovative Products from Millet (and Other High Fibre Grains)
Opens: 01/12/2023 Closes: 29/01/2024
Unilever Kenya is seeking innovative solutions to produce millet food products with consumer appeal and zero waste, using circular economy principles.
More Information
Related programme
Global Alliance Africa
This Innovate UK Global Alliance Africa 6-year (2019-2025) project funded by UK International Development aims to build new and stronger UK-African partnerships to maximise the creation of inclusive market access, funding and investment opportunities through innovation knowledge transfer between the UK, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.