Embark on a transformative journey with the Charles Sturt University Sustainable Packaging Innovation Challenge. Here, innovation meets sustainability, offering a platform to address the most pressing packaging challenges facing the wine and fresh food industries. Your ideas can lead the way in environmental stewardship and industry transformation.
Dive into the forefront of packaging innovation! We’re seeking pioneers eager to address one or multiple challenge statements described above, to revolutionise the wine and fresh food sectors.
Selected teams gain access to an online innovation sprint, uniquely tailored to elevate and rigorously evaluate their solutions under the mentorship of curators, who play a critical role in refining and focusing the solutions to ensure they meet the real world needs of industry. Curators, with their rich sector-specific knowledge, represent a diverse mix of perspectives from industry, government, commercial entities, and research institutions.
Success in this sprint leads to the opportunity to showcase their innovative solutions to a distinguished audience, including industry leaders, investors, and potential collaborators, at a high-profile event designed to spotlight the most promising and sustainable packaging solutions.
Promotion of the challenge to researcher, startups, SMEs and other innovators that allign with the challenge criteria and industries.
Applications are now closed.
Up to 12 of the most innovative and impactful solutions will be invited for participation. Solutions will have to demonstrate their potential for significant environmental and industry advancements.
Industry experts are matched with innovators to stress test and refine solutions, ensuring they are both innovative and practical for real-world application.
Teams refine their solutions based on curator feedback. Those demonstrating notable progress are endorsed by a panel and invited to a showcase to present their requirements for adoption and scaling.
Solutions endorsed: May 21
Teams are guided in honing their pitches, emphasising their value, traction, and ROL, leading to a concise 7-8 minute presentation at the showcase. Here, they highlight their solutions and seek industry support for their sustainable packaging journey.
Teams that present compelling arguments will receive funding and in-kind support from Charles Sturt University and other co-contributors, facilitating their journey toward bringing sustainable packaging solutions to market.
Join us at the showcase event
In an exciting collaboration with leading industry stakeholders, we’ve crafted three key challenge statements, setting the stage for innovation in sustainable packaging. These challenges, rooted in comprehensive industry insights and research within the food and beverage sectors, serve as our benchmarks for evaluating groundbreaking solutions.
The challenge is designed to support startups, research teams, SMEs, and other stakeholders with well-developed solutions to address the challenge statements identified.
Prospective applicants should consider the following before applying:
At the showcase, teams will not only share their groundbreaking solutions but also compete for a share of a $75,000 prize pool.
This funding is for:
This funding not only accelerates the journey from concept to market for emerging innovations but also supports established solutions aiming to expand or enter the Australian market, offering a unique opportunity for both nascent and mature projects to scale and succeed.