The Santander X Global Challenge | Food for the Future aims to help alleviate the global food shortage, promote sustainable food, and innovate in all processes of the food industry.

The six winning projects will receive prizes totalling 120,000 euros and access to Santander X 100, the exclusive global community of Santander X's most outstanding entrepreneurial projects.

Registration period will remain open until 10 November at Santander X.

Madrid, 19 October 2022.
Banco Santander, together with Oxentia Foundation, is launching the Santander X Global Challenge | Food for the Future, a new global challenge aimed at startups and scaleups that present solutions to address food scarcity, access to healthy and sustainable food or the implementation of innovative technologies that improve efficiency in the food manufacturing, packaging and distribution process.

The initiative, aligned with the second United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end hunger, is aimed at start-ups from 11 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Mexico, Portugal, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom, United States and Uruguay) that present an innovative solution around the food industry and a technological base that can generate a lasting economic and social impact. The call will be open until 10 November.

After the selection process, project evaluation and validation, a jury of international experts will choose the six winning projects, which will receive 120,000 euros in prizes: 30,000 euros for the three winning startups (10,000 euros each) and 90,000 euros for the three best scaleups (30,000 euros each). They will also have access to Santander X 100, the prime global community that supports the most outstanding startups and scaleups from the different Santander X programmes and challenges, allowing them to network and connecting them with the resources they need to grow: advice and training, capital, customers, talent, and other valuable resources.

Blanca Sagastume, deputy global director of Santander Universities, points out that "the food industry is currently undergoing a profound transformation and, therefore, we must support all initiatives and innovation that can help accelerate this change, because to a large extent, the future must be sustainable".

Steve Cleverley, CEO of Oxentia Foundation, said: "Helping entrepreneurs address global challenges, provide innovative solutions and promote the adoption of new and disruptive technologies is at the heart of our work. We are delighted to be partnering with Banco Santander to launch this global challenge. It is a topic of great importance, not only aligned with our global responsibility and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, but part of our everyday lives; something that each of us can relate to.

The finalists will also be given the opportunity to present their proposals to Fintech Station, the Santander team that promotes open innovation in the bank and articulates it through the entrepreneurship area of Santander Universities.

Banco Santander and its support for higher education

Banco Santander maintains a firm commitment to progress and inclusive and sustainable growth with a pioneering and consolidated commitment to education, entrepreneurship and employment, which it has been developing through Santander Universities for more than 25 years and distinguishes it from other financial institutions in the world. Since it launched, the Bank has allocated more than EUR 2,100 million and has supported more than 790,000 students, professionals and entrepreneurial projects through agreements with close to 1,000 universities and institutions in 15 countries.

Oxentia Foundation, and its commitment to innovation and global entrepreneurship

Oxentia Foundation was created to further Oxentia's founding goal of addressing global inequalities through innovation and entrepreneurship activities. Oxentia has organised international competitions and awards for innovation-based ventures and provided mentoring to entrepreneurs to promote the commercialisation of science and technology-based projects, with an impact on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Oxentia grew out of Oxford University's technology transfer company, Oxford University Innovation, with the aim of providing specialist innovation management services to public and private sector clients around the world. Its approach is underpinned by a strong Oxford heritage, based on over 30 years' experience in supporting academic innovation and entrepreneurship in more than 70 countries.