Tag Archives: international competitions

WORLD FOOD PRIZE FOUNDATION

Application Deadline: April 15, 2025

LOCATION: USA

The World Food Prize Foundation, in collaboration with America’s Cultivation Corridor, is proud to launch the Innovate for Impact Challenge—a pioneering initiative dedicated to accelerating agricultural technology (AgTech) innovation. This challenge seeks to identify and support early-stage, tech-driven startups whose transformative solutions address the critical challenges of global food security and sustainability.

ELIGIBILITY:

The Challenge is open to early-stage, for-profit startups in the AgTech space. Eligible companies must meet the following requirements:

Be in early stages of development, from validated concepts to pre-Series A funding

Have at least one founder working full-time on the project

Demonstrate innovation, market potential and alignment with sustainability goals

Startups will be evaluated on:

Innovation Impact: The novelty and significance of the solution

Market Potential: Viability and demand within the agricultural industry

Sustainability Contribution: Alignment with environmental and social goals

Scalability and Replicability: Ability to expand and adapt across diverse contexts

BENEFIT:

The top three finalists will receive:

1st Place: $50,000

2nd Place: $10,000

3rd Place: $5,000

All finalists will gain:

Unmatchable global exposure by presenting their solutions at the 2025 Borlaug Dialogue in Des Moines, Iowa, which anticipates a gathering of over 1,500 food and agricultural leaders from more than 70 countries

Unique opportunities to engage with investors, industry experts, fellow entrepreneurs, policymakers and potential partners from around the world

APPLY

INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTRE (ITC) WTO MSME GROUP SMALL BUSINESS CHAMPIONS COMPETITION

Application Deadline: 28 March 2025

LOCATION: Switzerland

Are you an organization that supports the circular business model? Are you a non-governmental organization that empowers small businesses and entrepreneurs to become sustainable? Are you owning a small business implementing or wanting to scale sustainable innovations?

Become a Small Business Champion!

ELIGIBILITY:

The proposal entails:

Initiatives that can include awareness-raising campaigns, competitions, capacity building, training, mentoring and networking programmes related to the circular economy.

Small businesses active in the circular economy with an innovative business concept that, through its operations, reduces, prevents or repurposes waste in equivalent conventional business models.

Applications should have a clear link to international trade and include an action plan. To see examples from past competition winners, visit the MSME Group Small Business Champions website.

Proposals are open to small businesses, enterprises, industry associations, chambers of commerce and non-governmental organizations and should be submitted by 28 March 2025 via this online form:

Small Business Champions 2025 – Formstack
For more information on the Proposal and the Initiative, visit:

English: http://www.wto.org/english/forums_e/business_e/call_for_applications_2025_e.pdf

French: http://www.wto.org/english/forums_e/business_e/call_for_applications_2025_f.pdf

Spanish: http://www.wto.org/english/forums_e/business_e/call_for_applications_2025_s.pdf

BENEFIT:

The winner(s) will be invited to travel to Geneva for the award ceremony on 26 June 2025, sponsored by ICC and ITC. The International Trade Centre will additionally award each winner $4,000 prize money to support the development or further scaling of their winning project and issue an award certificate.

Moreover, training and mentoring opportunities will be discussed with each winner according to their needs, while winning submissions will be promoted by ICC, ITC, UN Trade and Development and the WTO MSME Group through their communication channels.

APPLY