Open Call for Khazanah Impact Innovation Challenge - Malaysia

Open Call for Khazanah Impact Innovation Challenge - Malaysia

Climate change poses an imminent threat to the agri-food sector globally. Prolonged dry spells, heatwaves, intense rainfall, and floods are already ruining food production across continents, leading to plummeting crop yields and the destruction of livestock and food stocks.

Projected 5% – 32% decline in crop yields by 2050(1) due to climate change with a 60% increase in global food demand by the same year driven by population growth, may exacerbate the situation.(2)

Entering its second instalment, Khazanah Impact Innovation Challenge (“KIIC”) 2023, themed “Tackling the Climate Challenge for Malaysia’s Food Security” is looking for Malaysian-based business entities with innovative and commercialised solutions which are economically viable and investible.

We seek innovations both from a climate mitigation and adaptation perspective that address the adverse impacts of climate change to safeguard Malaysia’s food security and enable sustainable and resilient agrifood systems.

About KIIC

KIIC is a business competition organised by Khazanah, via its Dana Impak to discover and support new business models and facilitate strategic value creation based on the theme of challenge towards achieving Khazanah’s goal of Advancing Malaysia.

We see KIIC as a fresh platform for us to identify / crowdsource ideas to address problem statements that are pervasive to deliver the impactful economic potential for the country, in addition to playing a role to help address this.

KIIC2023 is organised by Khazanah in partnership with its programme partner, Plug and Play APAC (“PNP”), outreach partners, Impact Circle and Cradle Fund’s MYStartup, and funding partners Gobi Partners, 500 Global, and Agrobank.

KIIC2023 is themed around “Tackling the Climate Challenge for Malaysia’s Food Security”. It aims to achieve the following:

Uncover innovative agrifood startups and Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs),

Boost participants’ readiness and knowledge in navigating fund-raising to take their business to the next stage of growth; and

Profile/showcase Malaysia based agrifood startups and MSMEs to the broader investment community.

The inaugural KIIC was held in 2021 with the theme “Enhancing Ageing Services for Malaysians” where six finalists were selected to receive RM300,000 grant each and five other finalists received RM20,000 each. Further, the challenge also resulted in one of the

finalists, Care Concierge receiving investments from Gobi Dana Impak Ventures Fund. Please click here to know more about KIIC2021.

The Award

Ten (10) finalists of KIIC2023 have a chance to receive an award of up to RM500,000 each in the form of grants. Khazanah and its partners reserve the rights on the final grant amount, and disbursement schedule to the shortlisted finalists, subject to the execution of the KIIC Grant Agreement by the finalists.

The KIIC2023 Demo Day would provide a platform for finalist(s) to pitch for:

Potential equity investments from Khazanah and its funding partners; and/or

Debt funding from our debt financing partners.

Considerations in preparing your solutions:

Climate Change has intensified the issue of food security, making it more critical than ever before. To address this challenge, enhancing food production is a crucial factor to ensure sufficient food supply for everyone.

KIIC is looking for Malaysian-based entities with innovative and commercialised solutions which are economically viable and investable. We welcome participants to challenge the boundaries and thinking to tackle climate challenges to food security in Malaysia.

The list below serves as a non-exhaustive list of guiding focus areas that help accomplish the overall objectives.

Farming Solutions

Drought tolerance

Smart irrigation, Internet of Things (“IOT”), and remote sensing

Controlled Environment Agriculture solutions (Greenhouse & vertical farming)

Animal Feed Solutions

Alternative feed inputs

Regenerative Agriculture

Bio-fertiliser & soil enhancers (Algae, plant-based, insect-based, mycorrhizal fungi and etc.)
Biochar

Cover crop solutions

Pests control solutions

Other biological/chemical solutions

Technology & Training Solutions

Embedded Agriculture education services

Marketplace

Supply chain

Other solutions

Adaptive crop planting solutions

Other climate mitigation and/or adaptation solutions for agrifood

How to Apply

For more information and job application details, see; Open Call for Khazanah Impact Innovation Challenge - Malaysia

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