1. Calling for innovative ideas

    Log in below to help us advance healthy and sustainable food environments for vulnerable people. Is it your first time here? Sign up to create an account below.

Sign up to join The Healthy Food Challenge

Diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate across the globe. In Novo Nordisk, we want to defeat diabetes. To do this, we must start with the most significant modifiable risk factors for diabetes - obesity. Addressing systemic food challenges is one way we can contribute to preventing obesity. That is why we, together with EAT, are launching The Healthy Food Challenge, inviting community stakeholders and private businesses to prevent obesity through solutions that advance healthy and sustainable food environments for vulnerable people. We will fund the three best ideas with up to $100,000 to pilot their implementation. Idea sharing starts March 2021. Sign up now to stay in the loop.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for innovative solutions that for example:

  • Increase access to healthier and affordable food retail for vulnerable people (eg grocery stores, small stores, farmers markets and mobile food retail)
  •  Increase access to healthy foods through cooperation in urban gardening and farmers markets  
  • Encourage families, children and young people to select healthy nutritious food at home as well as when eating out
  • Encourage and support restaurants and food stalls to adopt healthier ingredients and methods to revamp their menus/food offerings
  • Encourage vulnerable people to make the most of their food items in order to eat better and reduce food waste
  • Foster food entrepreneurship and formal/informal education programmes for future chefs 

For the best chance of being chosen for implementation, ideas should:

  • Be innovative – employ new and innovative approaches to engaging with vulnerable people or encourage new and uncommon partnership models
  • Be feasible and achievable within a time frame of 2–3 years
  • Have clearly defined metrics and milestones
  • Promote multi-sector collaboration
  • Involve citizens and/or community members in development, implementation and evaluation
  • Benefit the community rather than provide benefit to an individual, single partner or organisation
  • Address health inequality by making the healthier choice the easier choice for all 
  • Be sustainable, scalable and transferable to other geographies and settings

  • Be aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 2 and/or Goal 3 and/or Goal 5 and/or Goal 12 and/or Goal 17

Who can participate?

We invite various organisations to join The Healthy Food Challenge. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Public agencies (e.g. education, culture, leisure, urban planning, transportation)
  • Public and private health organisations
  • Educational institutions
  • NGOs and grassroots organisations
  • Faith based associations
  • Private businesses

It is a requirement that the participating organisation who submit the idea is not a profit-making business organisation. However, these can be partners of the participating organisation in idea development and implementation.

The journey

1. Idea Sharing

The challenge opens for ideas. Participants submit ideas for consideration on the online platform. It is possible for participants to see and be inspired by other ideas. It is also possible for participants to connect and collaborate.

2. Selection of Top 30

A panel of experts reviews the ideas and selects 30 for further refinement and Action Work Group assembly. All idea submitters are notified of the status of their idea.

3. Idea Refinement

Idea submitters refine their ideas based on feedback from the selection panel, and upload their refined ideas to the platform for others to see and join.

4. Selection of Top 10

A panel of experts will review the top 30 ideas, and they will select the 10 most promising to be invited to the Bootcamp stage.

5. Bootcamp

The 10 best idea teams will receive training from professionals to develop their ideas and finalise their proposals and pitches.

6. Pitch Session & Selection

The 10 idea teams will pitch their proposals to an expert panel in an online pitch session. The expert panel will subsequently select 3 winning proposals that will be supported with up to US$100,000 each.

7. Implementation

3 winning teams will implement their proposals. 

Why participate?

About The Healthy Food Challenge

The Healthy Food Challenge is an initiative launched by Novo Nordisk in collaboration with EAT. The purpose is to find, pilot and scale solutions to prevent diabetes and obesity. Today, one in every 11 people in the world is living with diabetes, a figure that is projected to rise to one in nine by 2045[1] unless action is taken. Obesity is the largest modifiable risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes, and today more than 650 million adults and 120 million children are living with obesity[2].

Food is the strongest lever to optimise human health[3]. However, one immense challenge facing humanity is to provide a growing world population with nutritious, safe, and affordable foods. Unhealthy food environments are one of the leading causes behind unhealthy diets and socio-economically deprived areas are more likely to have limited availability of affordable and healthy food[4]. With this innovation challenge, it is our ambition to advance healthy and sustainable food environments for vulnerable people across the globe.

Sign up here