Last week the European Innovation Council Business Acceleration Services launched its Planet.tech challenge, a new initiative under its Corporate Partnership Programme. In the upcoming days, we will highlight the different challenges and introduce you to the corporates involved. First up is Nestlé. The Swiss multinational food and drink company is going green, clean and committed to ensure a healthier future. This week Nestlé added new challenges to Planet.Tech. Do you want to know more? It’s time to feed your curiosity.
Apply and step up to the plate.
Applications are open until 19 April 2020 23.59 (CET).
The European Green Deal, and the major sustainability challenges it will tackle, ask for close collaboration across value chains. With the Planet.tech initiative, the EIC Business Acceleration Services offers the opportunity to enhance your cooperation with different corporates and jointly devise innovative solutions to a number of pre-determined challenges in the field of sustainability.
The corporates will dedicate a team of experts to select the SME with the highest possibilities to develop a joint Proof of Concept (PoC) around the challenges proposed. Successful pilots will be invited to showcase their solution in a dedicated event in Brussels, Belgium in autumn 2020 (tbd).
The challenges from Nestlé:
1.Reduce amount of food packaging and ensure it is recyclable and recycled
- Explore selling in bulk (for dry and wet food items)
- Explore circular concept of packaging (collected & reused) while considering all levels of packaging – primary, secondary, etc
- Identify alternatives for recycling of flexible plastic packaging
- Explore light weight food grade alternative packaging
- Identify environmentally friendly On the go/Takeaway/Single serve packaging & utensils
- In addition to current rPET efforts, identify alternative recycled resins for non-alcoholised beverage containers
- Technologies and solutions embedded in packaging to prevent microbial contamination in re-fill of products
2.Reduce CO2 emissions in manufacturing and supply chain
- Optimize transportation and explore alternative fuels (H2 etc.)
- Explore boilers with lower environmental impact for factories (wood pyrolysis, biogas, etc.)
- Explore solutions for farmers to reduce CO2/CH4 emissions, especially regarding kettles
- Develop digital solutions to measure environmental footprint (for producers and consumers)
- Identify alternative distribution paths (decreasing emissions)
3.Produce more sustainable food products
- Identify gentle food processing technologies
- Define optimal plant-based proteins based on local sources
- Explore ways of valorizing waste in agriculture & production
- Develop digital solutions to prevent food waste
- Develop tools for raw materials tracking/digitalization of food chain
4.Neutral environmental impact
- Solutions that help us and the municipality of Etalle protect and improve the forest area around the water source
- Solutions that can help improve biodiversity and protect the natural environment in the region
- Dedicated solutions on-site that can help generate a positive CO2 impact by Etalle on the environment
- Green energy production and storing for factory purposes, on- and off-site
- Solutions that further help reduce water usage in production
More specifics about the challenges and the application form can be found on the dedicated pages for each EIC partner corporate on the EIC Community:
- ABInbev (Sustainable Industry)
- Deme (Biodiversity/Oceans)
- Enel (Clean Energy)
- Nestlé (Sustainable food system)
- P&G (Alternatives to plastic)
- Veolia (Combatting pollution)
Should you have any questions regarding the event, please refer to our helpdesk: https://community-smei.easme-web.eu/contact (please choose “Planet.tech Nestlé" as the subject).
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.