Extreme Tech Challenge Announces Strategic Partnership With the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to Advance Technology-Enabled Resilient Food Systems

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) is announcing a strategic partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to empower tech entrepreneurs driving transformative innovations in improving nutrition and food security worldwide to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including “Zero Hunger.”

In support of this vision, FAO and XTC announced the creation of the World Food Forum Startup Innovation Awards, powered by XTC, during the XTC 2021 Global Finals presented by TechCrunch.

The World Food Forum (WFF) is an initiative by FAO's Youth Committee to transform food systems and sustainably defeat hunger and malnutrition. WFF will be held from October 1 to 6 this year. This new WFF Startup Innovation Awards, powered by XTC, will identify the contestants who entered the 2020 and 2021 Extreme Tech Challenge that show the greatest potential for driving real change to agri-food systems.

“As XTC was launched to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals, I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about our formal partnership to join forces in tackling this important challenge faced as a global community,” said Young Sohn, Co-Founder of Extreme Tech Challenge, Chairman of the Board at HARMAN International, and Founding Managing Partner at Walden Catalyst.

“This partnership will provide exceptional XTC startups with broader exposure, recognition and opportunities to scale their businesses and apply their solutions to real world problems that the United Nations is working to solve,” said Sohn.

“The Extreme Tech Challenge AgTech, Food & Water competition category directly addresses FAO’s mission to defeat hunger worldwide and to achieve high-quality food security for all,” said Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director-General of FAO. “We are thrilled to join XTC in this partnership and to leverage its extraordinary pool of transformative startups to make a material impact in both of our organizations’ sustained efforts to tackle this global challenge.”

The WFF Startup Innovation Awards will have 4 tracks: Better Production, Better Nutrition, Better Environment and Better Life. To learn more about the World Food Forum, please visit http://www.world-food-forum.org/en/. Subscribe to receive the latest news from the Extreme Tech Challenge as details unfold.

About Extreme Tech Challenge

Extreme Tech Challenge is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public benefit corporation whose mission is to empower startups creating new tech innovations to address global challenges. It is the world’s largest ecosystem and competition for purpose-driven technology inspired by the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Extreme Tech Challenge™ competition is supported by leading corporations, venture capital investors, foundations, policymakers, universities and tech conferences to give exceptional startups the potential for global visibility, the opportunity to raise capital, the ability to network with global leaders, and access to world-class mentorship to help them pioneer technological breakthroughs that address our most extreme global challenges. A complete list of XTC partners and how to join can be found at www.extremetechchallenge.org.