World Food Innovation Awards: what are the judges looking for?

The World Food Innovation Awards will soon return to Hotelympia for another year – but fear not, there’s still time to submit your latest product for a chance of winning a coveted trophy and industry-wide recognition. And to help you out with your application, this year’s judges will be explaining what they are looking for from entries.

Here, The Kitchen Hub’s Amir Zaidman, Tridimage’s Guillermo Dufranc and Aurora Ceres Partnership’s Steve Osborn tell us what they hope to see.

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Amir Zaidman
Vice-president, business development
The Kitchen Hub
 

The World Food Innovation Awards is a place for the most innovative ideas in food and beverage to shine their brightest. When considering the applicants, there are a few parameters I need to consider:

Added value – first and foremost! I believe any innovation in F&B should provide clear and significant added value to at least one of the following ‘audiences’:

• The consumer – any innovation that addresses consumer needs and growing trends such as foods that are ‘free-from’, clean-label, nutritious, etc
• The industry – innovations that allow the F&B industry to provide more accessible food and to meet consumer preferences. For example, foods with a longer shelf life or personalised foods
• The environment – I strongly believe that a sustainable food system is a ‘must’ rather than a ‘nice to have’. Food innovations that take into account environmental aspects are very important

Our vision at The Kitchen Hub is ‘better industry, better food, better world’. I strongly believe in this vision and feel that it can and should be applied to the World Food Innovation Awards.

Uniqueness – when I use this term I mean that I am looking for something that is significantly different from what currently exists: a significantly different concept, ingredient list, package or experience.

Disruptiveness – I apologise for using this cliché term, but it does a good job in describing situations where something can be done much differently than the way it’s done today – and thereby done much better. One example that comes to mind is building a person’s diet based on his genome or microbiome. This can be a disruption. Another example might be generating personalised foods using 3D printers. These are just some examples of what disruption might look like in the food space.

Business model – it’s not enough to have a great product, service or technology. These all need to be supported by a viable business model in which a customer can identify the value and be willing to pay enough to create a business.

Scalability – a new innovation is only interesting if it can be executed on a large, even global, scale. Local initiatives are nice, but real impact can only be achieved by a scalable innovation.

These are the parameters I am looking for when judging World Food Innovation Awards candidates, and I wish them all the best of luck!

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Guillermo Dufranc
Graphic design coordinator, Tridimage
 

Award competitions are always a great source of inspiration, and 2018’s winning projects must exceed the high expectations set in last year’s edition of the World Food Innovation Awards.

I expect to find new and refreshing ideas on the packaging design of basic products (commodities) such as milk, flour, pasta and so on, which will bring a breath of fresh air to the shelves.

Another important consideration is the design of packaging for digital platforms, since online retail lacks context and size impression. 

Regarding product innovation, I will be interested to see new developments that help us achieve a balanced diet, higher nutritional quality, and innovations for the growing demand in snacks.

Companies must take consideration of their products, as well as the impact they have on the environment. Projects that embrace environmental care will certainly attract eyes.

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Steve Osborn
Director and food technology scout, The Aurora Ceres Partnership
 

At Aurora Ceres we define innovation as a process that adds value. In our food technology scouting activities, we are always looking for that next big thing, not just in novelty or newness, but identifying those solutions that are solving real-life problems. One of the technology scouting tools we use to do this is to look at the four objective measures of technology readiness, and a fifth that is a little more emotional!

Market – is there really a market for this innovation, and does it solve a need?

Technology – is this innovation ready to enter the marketplace or is there still some development work needed?

Commercial – this relates to the innovators’ ability to sell their concept into the market place, so covers the key aspects of relevance and value.

Management – whether there is sufficient infrastructure behind the innovator to deliver that product to market.

Brilliance – as with any innovation awards, there will be those ideas and products that just knock you sideways. I’m always on the lookout for those, but only after the first four points have been satisfied.

Whilst innovation must add value, it should also inspire. Good luck to all the entries; the standard is going be high and the judging will be stringent!

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Set that trend

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