South Bend-based Cultivate Food Rescue received a prize of $5,000 as a runner-up in the HungerTech Innovation Challenge.
The nonprofit food rescue service is committed to making sure that no one in St. Joseph, Elkhart and Marshall counties goes hungry. Its ShelfLife platform connects food suppliers and donors with a central hub that identifies distribution centers with a need.
The model already rescues and distributes more than 2 million pounds of food a month.
The HungerTech Innovation Challenge is a four-week program that supports entrepreneurs in connecting with food-insecure populations and food networks.
“HungerTech is a powerful experience for innovators that unites entrepreneurship and business to inspire the creation of technologies to serve those in need,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana, in a press release.
The AgriNovus study, “Tackling and Solving Food Insecurity with Private Sector Innovations,” was the catalyst for the challenge. It was commissioned by the Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability at Purdue University.
Indianapolis-based GreenBasket earned the top prize of $25,000 for its CropSpots model that connects food from farmers markets with group community deliveries. Food Box, which offers dispensers for healthy meals and snacks in food deserts, earned an honorable mention.
Caption: HungerTech Innovation Challenge prize winners are Indianapolis-based GreenBasket and runner-up South Bend-based Cultivate Food Rescue. (AgriNovus Indiana)
