Applications Invited for the Foodtech Frontier Challenge 2025

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About the Organization

We champion enterprise development and work with committed companies to build capabilities, innovate and go global. We also support the growth of Singapore as a hub for global trading and startups. As the national standards and accreditation body, we continue to build trust in Singapore’s products and services through quality and standards.

The world is changing constantly at a rapid pace, and technology is disrupting companies, industries, and the way we do business. With Asia as the world’s current growth engine and Singapore right at the centre of it all, opportunities may be rich, but competition is more intense than ever.

In this environment, companies need to act nimbly and integrate capability building, innovation, and internationalisation in their strategies to prepare their businesses for the future.

Enterprise Singapore was formed with this in mind. Growing Singapore companies is at the heart of our work. Today, we are committed to working with businesses to support your growth at every stage.

About the Challenge

The Foodtech Frontier Challenge brings together global startups, and solution providers from around the world to collaborate with leading food industry players on real-world innovation challenges.

This challenge provides a platform for innovators to co-develop breakthrough solutions that push the boundaries of taste, texture, nutrition, and sustainability — and to accelerate their pathway to commercial partnerships and market adoption. The challenge statements have been categorised under three broad themes: Ingredients, Processing, and Sustainability.

Across Asia and beyond, the food industry is evolving rapidly. Consumers are seeking healthier, more sustainable choices without compromising on indulgence or sensory experience. From developing cocoa alternatives and heat-resilient chocolate to next-generation fats, oils, and functional ingredients, these challenge statements represent the cutting edge of food innovation.

If you're a foodtech startup or SME looking to transform big ideas into bold solutions, join the Foodtech Frontier Challenge and shape the next frontier of food!

Challenge statements:

• Cocoa Alternatives for the Future: How might we develop affordable, sustainable, and scalable cocoa alternatives that deliver the flavour, aroma, and sensory experience of chocolate?
• Innovative Fats for Healthier Chocolate Products: How might we develop a fat structuring solution that reduces fat, saturated fat, or total calories in chocolate by at least 30%, while preserving the rich sensory experience of chocolate?
• Heat Resistant Chocolate: How might we increase the thermal tolerance of chocolate confectionery up to 45°C through natural or near-natural ingredients and/or processing innovations, while preserving the chocolatey taste and melt-in-mouth sensory experience?
• Achieving Crispiness in Microwavable Fried Snacks: How might we ensure the crispiness of microwavable frozen fried snacks whilst retaining moisture and texture?
• Science-backed Ingredient Innovations for Healthy Ageing: How might we deliver science-backed ingredient innovations for nutrition, food and health applications that support active ageing and slowing the biological ageing process?
• Increasing Heat Tolerance in Chocolates: How might we increase the thermal stability of chocolates through natural or near-natural ingredient innovations and/or processing interventions, while preserving the melt-in-mouth experience?
• Functional Ingredients for Preventive Health and Active Ageing: How might we deliver science-backed ingredient innovations that can be incorporated into food and beverage formulations to deliver targeted benefits for preventative health and active ageing?
• Next-generation Fat and Oil Solutions for Plant-based Alternatives: How might we develop next-generation fat and oil solutions for plant-based alternatives that deliver superior taste, texture, and functionality – matching or exceeding the performance of animal- and dairy-derived fats?
• Fermentation for Umami and Kokumi Compounds: How might we explore solid-state fermentation to sustainably produce natural umami and kokumi compounds that deliver impactful flavour aligned with clean-label expectations?
• Next-generation Sustainable Packaging for Frozen Foods: How might we develop sustainable, cost-effective packaging solutions for frozen food products that meet current shelf-life requirements and seamlessly integrate into existing production workflows?
• Valorisation of Industrial Pastry Waste: How might we transform pastry waste into valuable food, feed, bio-based products or materials?

Opportunities and Incentives:

Successful participants of the Foodtech Frontier Challenge will gain access to a range of exciting opportunities:

• Paid pilot and trials with corporate partners to test and validate your solution in real-world settings;
• Co-innovation opportunities with challenge owners, tapping into their expertise, infrastructure, and networks;
• Mentorship and industry networking to sharpen your value proposition and open doors for collaboration; and
• Potential grant support to accelerate development and deployment.

Challenge owners are offering more than S$450,000 worth of paid pilots to support co-innovation with winning solution providers.

Enterprise Singapore is augmenting this support with a S$30,000 Proof of Concept (POC) development grant for eligible startups/SMEs. Foreign startups/SMEs may be considered if developmental activities are based in Singapore and only if a Singapore office is incorporated. The POC development grant could also be awarded to startups/SMEs incorporated in Singapore for projects with overseas pilot deployment potential.

Eligibility

The Foodtech Frontier Challenge is open to eligible companies all over the world.

Evaluation Criteria:

• Technical Feasibility & Novelty: Does the solution demonstrate innovative use of technology, showcasing technical expertise and creativity? Is there a clear explanation of how the technical aspects of the solution address the sustainability challenge, emphasising uniqueness and novelty?
• Business Feasibility: Is the business model scalable, demonstrating the solution's potential for market acceptance and growth?
• Team Capacity & Expertise: Does the team have varied skills, relevant expertise, and a history of successful collaborations, demonstrating their proven ability to deliver the solution?
• Details of POC / MVP: Does the Proof of Concept / Minimum Viable Product (MVP) proposal cover sufficient details relating to implementation, timeline, and cost?

How to Apply

Applications close on Monday, 30 June 2025 at 11.59pm (GMT+8).

Apply Now

For the application phase, your company must complete an application form that will cover the following:

• Details of Applicant
• Executive Summary:
• A quick summary of the solution, underlying technology and deliverables in 500 words. The summary should address the tangible and intangible outcomes of the project.
• Detailed Project Proposal, including
• Technical feasibility and novelty of the proposed solution;
• Solution effectiveness, i.e. how well it addresses stated requirements;
• Potential benefits and impact, such as manpower or cost savings, etc;
• Operational feasibility, including details on how to onboard various stakeholders;
• Business feasibility, including commercialisation and scale-up strategy, estimated commercial pricing, life cycle costs, proposed business model;
• Capacity, resources, and expertise committed to the project;
• Details on the POC or MVP if available;
• Desired deliverables and / or outcomes of the project (including but not limited to tech specs, product development schedule, key challenges to overcome); and
• Others (as specifically requested in the challenge brief).

For more information please check the Link

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