About Us | WFP Innovation

Do you have a great idea?
Apply to the WFP Innovation Accelerator

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Accelerator sources, supports, and scales high-impact innovations to achieve Zero Hunger. Based in Munich, Germany, we provide WFP employees, entrepreneurs, and startups with funding, hands-on support and access to WFP’s global operations. Through the Accelerator, WFP is leveraging unprecedented advances in digital innovation—such as mobile technology, artificial intelligence, big data, and blockchain—and new business models to transform the way we serve vulnerable communities across the world.

Building on WFP’s legacy of innovation, the WFP Innovation Accelerator was launched in 2015 to pilot new solutions and scale promising innovations to disrupt hunger. We supported 106 innovation projects at various levels of maturity (i.e., sprint, scale-up, SDGx Acceleration) and positively impacted the lives of 37 million people across 88 countries in 2022. We received over 2,500 applications from 128 countries around the world, showing the reach and value our innovation programmes offer.

The WFP Innovation Accelerator was named in Fast Company’s lists of 2021's Most Innovative Companies (Non-Profit), 2021's Best Workplaces for Innovators, and 2020’s Innovation Team of the Year. Globally, WFP was awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize "for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict." Find out more at www.wfp.org/enablers

Our Impact in 2022

106

Innovation projects

Countries & Territories

37 million

People

What we do

We help innovators sprint from idea to impact

Our Sprint Programme is an intense six-month acceleration programme that helps innovators and start-ups reach proof-of-concept and develop prototypes ready for implementation. Apply for access to US $100,000 in funding, world-class mentors, results-driven programming, and WFP’s vast field operations.

We enable the scale-up of high-impact innovations

Our Scale-Up Enablement Programme enables the rapid scale up of high-impact innovations by providing tailored strategic planning, fundraising, communications, knowledge management and mentorship support. We scale up innovations that have the potential to significantly disrupt hunger by improving the livelihoods of millions of people, increasing efficiency and effectiveness across multiple countries.

We explore game-changing frontier innovations

New technologies are rapidly developing and deeply transforming our lives and the world, including in the area of humanitarian aid. Our Frontier Innovations Programme explores game-changing innovations and new technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, edge computing and robotics to help humanitarians deliver on their mandate more effectively.

We provide a platform for innovation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals

WFP is committed to strengthening global partnerships that deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals. Our Innovation Services Programme creates custom acceleration programmes, innovation journeys and ecosystem building activities with other United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, foundations and private sector organisations. Our goal is to drive systemic change through working together.

What we offer

Do you have a bold idea to disrupt hunger? Apply to the WFP Innovation Accelerator for the possibility to receive up to US $100,000 in equity-free funding, mentorship from industry experts, and access to the world’s largest humanitarian organization.

Equity-Free Funding

Hands-On Support

Access to Field Operations

Submit Your Innovation

What sets us apart?

We’re ranked one of the most innovative companies in the world.

In 2021, we received two Fast Company awards: ranking on their list of "Most Innovative Companies" (#2 Not-For-Profit) and "Best Workplaces for Innovators". This follows a 2020 ranking by Fast Company's "Best Workplace for Innovators" and "Innovation Team of the Year" awards — only 10 organizations worldwide received this dual honour. These honours recognize our unique application of Silicon Valley entrepreneurial approaches to fighting world hunger.

Six years, 90+ projects and millions of people reached.

Since 2015, we’ve sourced, supported and scaled over 90 innovations. Collectively, they’ve reached over 8 million people in 2021 alone. They’ve acquired users, won industry awards, grown their teams and developed products and solutions to sustainably end hunger.

We’re on the cutting-edge of the world’s largest humanitarian agency.

We’re part of the World Food Programme: the leading humanitarian organization saving lives and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies, and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.

We have a world-class network of mentors, partners and startups.

We’re proud to be part of a network of world-class mentors, partners and startups who can provide impactful and to-the-point support. From Google, to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to the United Nations Innovation Network, our partners span the private sector, non-profits, foundations, governments, and inter-governmental organizations.

We’re located in the heart of Munich and tapped into a global innovation ecosystem.

We’re tapped into the strength of Munich’s startup ecosystem and highly-educated, globally-connected talent pool. We’re also part of WFP: with more than 80 offices and 20,600 employees around the globe, we can provide unrivalled support to scale-up and roll-out high-impact innovations worldwide.

Our Innovation Principles