The Weston Family Foundation has selected an international panel of expert judges for its $33 million Homegrown Innovation Challenge that will be led by Dominic Barton, former chair of Canada's Advisory Council on Economic Growth.

Participants in the Challenge are asked to create market-ready systems for growing berries year-round in Canada on a commercially viable scale. Teams that successfully complete the Challenge could be awarded up to $8 million in funding from the Weston Family Foundation.

The independent judging panel includes

• Dominic Barton (Chair), Canada;
• Dr. David Babson, United States;
• Dr. Achim Dobermann, Germany; 
• Dr. Hicham Fatnassi, United Arab Emirates;
• Dr. Jennifer Grenz, Canada;
• Dr. Molly Jahn, United States; 
• Sarai Kemp, Israel.

The Weston Family Foundation expects a wide range of ideas to come from the Homegrown Innovation Challenge applications. Based on the preset judging criteria, the judging panel will leverage their expertise and experience to select the strongest contenders. The primary objective of these criteria is to assess the system developed, and not solely the berries produced, to lead to solutions applicable to a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

The six-year Challenge runs in several phases.  The first Spark Award phase will see the selection of as many as 15 innovators, each receiving up to $50,000 to support the development of their concept, formation of a team, completion of their full application, and more. Spark Awards are not mandatory, and teams that do not apply for one or are not successful in their application may still apply for the overall Challenge in the Shepherd Phase.

Teams can submit their Spark Award applications until the May 3, 2022 deadline (12 p.m. ET).

Learn more about the application criteria and process and register for the informational webinar on April 13 at 1:00 p.m. EST at www.homegrownchallenge.ca.

Source:  Weston Family Foundation April 5, 2022 news release