Santander and Oxentia Foundation support efforts to reduce food crisis
The Bank has launched a competition for entrepreneurs – the Santander X Global Challenge | Food for the Future. The aim is to support the fight against global hunger, promote sustainable food production and encourage innovation in food industry processes. The six winning projects will receive prizes worth a total of €120,000.
The Santander Group, together with the Oxentia Foundation, has announced the Santander X Global Challenge | Food for the Future competition. It is designed to encourage start-up and scale-up companies to show off solutions to help tackle global hunger. The competition also covers innovations that facilitate access to healthy and sustainable food and the implementation of innovative technologies that improve the efficiency of food production, packaging and distribution.
The initiative fits in with the second of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which is zero hunger. The competition is aimed at start-ups from 11 countries (Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, USA, Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Poland, UK and Uruguay). Entrants must offer innovative solutions for the food industry and technologies that can have a lasting economic and social impact. Applications are being accepted until 10 November 2022 at https://app.santanderx.com/calls/food-for-the-future.
After selection, evaluation and verification of the projects, a jury of international experts will select six winners. They will receive cash prizes worth a total of EUR 120,000. Of this pool, EUR 30,000 will go to the three best startups (EUR 10,000 each). In turn, EUR 90,000 will be awarded to the top three scaleups (EUR 30,000 each). In addition, the winners will join the elite Santander X 100 community which, through its programmes and competitions, facilitates networking and resources for further development. It provides advice, training, capital, and enables the acquisition of new customers and employees.
The food industry is currently undergoing a profound transformation, and we must support all initiatives and innovations that help to accelerate this change. This will be hugely crucial to building a sustainable future.
The point of our work is to help entrepreneurs face global challenges, deliver innovative solutions and disseminate disruptive technologies. We are very pleased to be working with Santander Bank on this latest competition. Its idea is extremely important. It is not only part of our global responsibility and pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals. It fits perfectly into our everyday life, embodying something that each of us can identify with.
Finalists will also have the opportunity to present their proposals to representatives of the Fintech Station, Santander’s team dedicated to promoting innovation, including in the area of entrepreneurial support within Santander Universities.
Santander Group and its support for higher education
The Santander Group continuously supports sustainable development aimed at eliminating social exclusion. The bank stands out among global financial institutions for its activities in support of education, entrepreneurship and employment implemented through Santander Universidades. Since its inception, the bank has committed more than EUR 2,100 billion to Santander Universidades. In doing so, it collaborates with more than 1,000 universities and institutions in 15 countries and provides support to more than 790,000 students, professionals and business projects.
Oxentia Foundation and its commitment to innovation and global entrepreneurship
The Oxentia Foundation was created to pursue its mission of bridging global inequalities by supporting innovation and entrepreneurship. Oxentia organises international competitions aimed at companies betting on innovation and offers advice to entrepreneurs, helping them to commercialise their science and technology solutions. Thus, its activities are in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Oxentia was established at Oxford University Innovation, which is dedicated to the transfer of technology developed at Oxford University and aims to provide specialist innovation management services to public and private sector clients around the world. Its strengths include a strong relationship with the University of Oxford and over 30 years’ experience of supporting innovation in academia and enterprise in over 70 countries.
