Friday Focus: Maersk Partners to Tackle Global Food Waste

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FoodTrack by Maersk, an intensive month-long programme for early-stage startups battling the annual US$ 1 trillion food waste problem, will partner with Rockstart — one of Europe's first multi-vertical startup accelerators.

The intensive one-month venture will involve Maersk, one of the world's largest integrated transport and logistics companies, selecting ten startups to focus on reducing food loss in the supply chain.

By coming up with ways to preserve supplies as they travel from the farm to the retail shelf, startups can submit their ideas for the first FoodTrack programme from April 17, 2018 to May 13, with the programme starting on June 6 and finishing with a Demo Day on July 6.

Maersk’s has stated that it's initiative will tackle 30% of all food either being lost or perishing, 80% of food loss occurring prior to retail and 1.3 billion tonnes going to waste across the world every year.  

Together with Rockstart, Maersk will run three rounds of the month-long FoodTrack programme in 2018 and 2019.

Each round will focus on technologies and new business models that reduce food loss in the early stages of the value chain — from harvest to distribution.

However, Maersk will consider startups that address all pain points of the food supply system, including logistics and supply chain technologies, sensing IoT and data monitoring, storage and packaging solutions, as well as farm and stock management systems.

Read about how Rotterdam and IBM are building the port of the future in a Port Technology technical paper

The startups chosen for the first edition of the FoodTrack programme will spend a month at Maersk‘s office in Copenhagen and receive intensive support and guidance from Maersk and Rockstart mentors and the programme team.

A series of workshops will then focus on mentoring sessions on problem validation, team development, competitive strategy, and pitching.

When the programme is completed, the FoodTrack startups will have a chance to get follow-on funding from Maersk or engage in a partnership.

 

Q&A: Søren Leth Johannsen, Chief Commercial Officer of Maersk Container Industry (MCI), shared his thoughts on how the company and the reefer industry is progressing

 

Peter Votkjaer Jorgensen, Venture Partner – Growth at A.P. Moller – Maersk, said: “As a partner and potential investor, we provide more than funds. We want to leverage our world-class infrastructure and operational expertise to help build the next business in this domain.”

Mark Durno, AgriFood Program Director at Rockstart, commented: “At Rockstart, we aspire to give startups the best access possible to market, capital, community, and expertise.

“With more and more AgriFood tech startups utilising emerging technologies and new business models to address the issue of food loss, we are delighted to support Maersk with their FoodTrack programme, and help startups drive positive change with a strong partner.”

Read more: Holt Logistics has become the first independent port operator in the northeastern United States to conduct a pilot based on a blockchain-based global trade digitization solution developed by Maersk and IBM

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