Bernhard Kowatsch, Head of the United Nations World Food Program Innovation Accelerator; Accelerating Solutions to End World Hunger
On this episode I’d like to introduce you to Bernhard Kowatsch who is the founder and head of the Innovation Accelerator at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). We find out more about the World Food Program, what the Innovation Accelerator is all about and how Bernhard made the transition from a consultant at BCG to a founder of an app call ShareTheMeal and now, working startups around the world that accelerate innovations to address global hunger.
For some background for the listeners, we actually met at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of New Champions in Tianjin, China almost 2 years ago! I remember when he introduced what he did at the WFP and I think the most surprising thing for me was that, when you think about the WFP, you obviously jump to food and food aid as being the primary things that you do but there’s so much more.
The World Food Program has recently been 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. While the WFP Innovation Accelerator was named by Fast Company as one of the 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2017 in Food for its work in identifying, nurturing and scaling disruptive start-ups that accelerate innovations to address global hunger. Innovations include blockchain, agri-tech, supply chain and new businesses to end hunger. Most recently, the Accelerator runs programmes for external partners such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Bernhard Kowatsch, Head, Innovation Accelerator, United Nations World Food Program
