The Tesco Agri T-Jam, a start-up pitch competition held in partnership with the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit, is now open for applications.
Now in its third year, the competition offers seed and early-stage agri-tech innovators from around the world the opportunity to work with the UK’s leading food retailer and its supply chain partners.
Entries are invited from now until July 28. At least one start-up will be selected for fast-track introductions and mentoring by the Tesco agriculture team and its supplier network, as enjoyed by previous winners RoboScientific and ImpactVision.
Natalie Smith, head of agriculture at Tesco, said: “At Tesco, our ambition is to find new products, ideas and technologies that will help us serve our customers, colleagues and communities even better in the future.
We want to work with people who have new ideas to help enhance what we do, or how we do things. We’re thrilled to be partnering with the World Agri Tech Innovation Summit for the third year and can’t wait to see more exciting technologies come through the process.
“The finalists will have the chance to partner with our suppliers to make a positive difference to our supply chains, helping to provide, affordable, healthy, sustainable food for our customers.”
Entries should address one of the following priority areas:
- Predictive farming;
- Crop specific solutions, shelflife and storage;
- Improving soil health and resilience;
- Water quality analysis and irrigation;
- Robotics, automation and sensor technology;
- Protecting and supporting biodiversity;
- Livestock: Animal health and welfare;
- Supply chain efficiency and waste reduction;
- Indoor and vertical farming;
- Reducing environmental footprint and GHG emissions;
- Operating remotely.
After a detailed shortlisting process, 10 selected finalists will be announced during the virtual World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit on September 15-16. All finalists will be invited to attend the summit to network and gain market insight.
The final pitch day will be held virtually in October this year, allowing the finalists present their solutions to the judging committee, Tesco colleagues and supply chain partners, with a public pitch to the World Agri-Tech global network followed by the announcement of the winner.
Abigail Ryder, programme director for the World Agri-Tech Innovation Series, said: “We’re delighted to continue our partnership with Tesco to offer the most exciting start-ups from our global network a chance to fast-track onto the radar of this leading retailer and its valued supply chain partners.
“The World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit exists to create new opportunities for discovery, growth and investment – and the Tesco Agri T-Jam exemplifies this perfectly.”
