Bernhard Kowatsch, Head of the Innovation Accelerator of the UN World Food Programme, on embracing innovation and technology to solve the world’s biggest social impact challenges.
We explore the work of the Innovation Accelerator and the World Food Programme more broadly.
The WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, with 20,000 staff worldwide, working in more than 120 countries — saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.
The Innovation Accelerator sources, nurtures and scales start-ups and nonprofits working to achieve Zero Hunger, and has run 18 accelerator programmes for external partners, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Humanitarian Grand Challenge, and other UN Agencies, with more planned.
This is a great episode for anyone who has an entrepreneurial spirit and is eager to tackle social impact challenges by leveraging innovation and technology.
About Bernhard Kowatsch
Bernhard is the Head of the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Accelerator, which he created in 2015. The Accelerator sources, nurtures and scales start-ups and nonprofits working to achieve Zero Hunger, and has run 18 accelerator programmes for external partners, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Humanitarian Grand Challenge, and other UN Agencies, with more planned.
Prior to starting the Accelerator, Bernhard co-founded the award-winning ShareTheMeal app that crowdsources funding for WFP and has delivered over 165 million meals for hungry children worldwide. His previous experience includes creating WFP’s Business Innovation Unit and working as a Project Leader at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).