The Food Systems Game Changers Lab Competition

This is a call to action for those with hands in the soil, pans on the stove, and everyone in between to help transform the planet.

The United Nations Secretary-General is hosting the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit to spearhead transformation of our world’s food systems to work for people, planet, and prosperity. The event will push beyond the bounds of food and agriculture to include solutions that take into account environment, health, climate, economy, human rights, and more. In the UN’s words, this is a “solutions summit that will require everyone to take action”—and the UN Food Systems Summit is engaging directly with diverse communities around the world to bring their ideas to the table. They also call it “a people’s summit.”

The Food Systems Game Changers Lab is a multi-phase program conceptualized by EAT, IDEO, Thought for Food, The Rockefeller Foundation, and other collaborators who support the UN Food Systems Summit. Phase 1, the Global Open Call, is hosted by IDEO and seeks people who have ideas, initiatives, or innovations that have the potential to bring positive change to global food systems—and the passion, grit, collaborative spirit, and determination required to take their solutions forward in partnership with others.

Those submitting solutions to the Global Open Call—teams, individuals, organizations, and other groups—compete to become Food Systems Game Changers. These Food Systems Game Changers will be invited to continue to the second phase of the Food Systems Game Changers Lab, where they will further refine their solutions over 12 weeks. In Phase 3, their ideas will be featured in a flagship publication, and they’ll be matched with potential implementation partners or investors at the time of the Summit. These new coalitions will then begin the work of turning ideas into reality in Phase 4. Throughout the Food Systems Game Changers Lab, participants will work with diverse teams to develop and launch bold and actionable solutions to transform the way the world produces, processes, distributes, and consumes food.

Throughout late 2020 and early 2021, food systems experts and organizations in support of the UN Food Systems Summit called forward potential game-changing solutions from stakeholders around the world that could create systemic change to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The Global Open Call opens the doors for you to join this global community of food systems solvers and be part of a movement. For those who have already engaged in the Summit’s activities, it’s a way to build on your participation and access the Food Systems Game Changers Lab benefits.

If selected for the Food Systems Game Changers Lab, you’ll gain access to the knowledge and experience of people like you, eager to advance solutions to food systems challenges. You’ll also gain access to customized curricula that will help you build partnerships, deepen your systems mindset, and monitor systems change efforts. Your involvement could result in new resources, feedback, collaborators, and partnerships to move your ideas further.

Game Changers who move on to Phases 2-4 of the Food Systems Game Changers Lab will enter into a distinguished network equipped to provide mentorship, access to training, and systems thinking tools and experts to advance your game-changing solution. You will gain new skills in systems change and have the opportunity to bring your solutions to the global stage. There, you’ll be introduced to key investors committed to food systems transformation, as well as national and local governments poised to implement your solution at scale.

The Food Systems Game Changers Lab: Global Open Call opens the doors for you to join a global community of food systems solvers, and be part of a movement.

You’ll gain access to customized curricula that will help you build partnerships, deepen your systems mindset, and monitor systems change efforts. As part of a cohort of people, teams, and organizations with complementary solutions, your ideas will be featured in a flagship publication, and you’ll be able to put your solution forward for matching with potential implementation partners or investors at the time of the Summit. Your involvement could result in new resources, feedback, collaborators, and partnerships to move your ideas further.

Awards:-

Being selected for Phase 2 of the Food Systems Game Changers Lab directly following this Global Open Call gives you access to:

Tailored mentorship and expertise
Others with similar solution types (e.g., digital technology, financial innovation, behavior change)
Others with similar impact goals (e.g., improved diets)
Systems thinking curricula, tools, and experts
Inclusion in a flagship publication
Prospective investors and implementing partners like national