Data for Farm Value Challenge by FAO and Viikki Food Design Factory

The connection between agricultural data and smallholder farmers is in dire need to be strengthened. To unlock its innovation potential, we are seeking fair business models that have the capacity to include smallholder farmers in the compensation mechanisms in the data ecosystem surrounding the agrifood world. 

This challenge invites startups to propose solutions that perform some or all of the following functions:  

• Develop scalable digital solutions that render and structure farm-level datadata generated at the farm-level in a usable, useful and more commonly used format.
• Create/Propose business models where farmers are included and fairly compensated for their data contributions, i.e. business models capturing value also for the farmers as data producers.
• Facilitate the integration of farm-level data into the supply chain, sustainability, and market access platforms.  
• Design transparent mechanisms that enable farmers to sell or trade data while maintaining ownership.  
• Connect farm-level data with broader public and private sector initiatives to drive sustainability and economic value across the value chain.  

• Workshops on pitching and product-market fit relating to data focused startups.
• Networking opportunities in the agrifood innovation ecosystem spanning the UN, public and private sectors and across Academia.
• 10 startups will have the opportunity to pitch on stage at the FAO’s Science and Innovation Forum (SIF) on October XX, 2025, in Rome for an international audience of potential partners for collaboration, piloting and more. Startups will also be able to access the World Food Forum where FAO is celebrating its 80th anniversary. The joint events convene Nobel Laureates, Heads of State, Private Sector, Academics, Startups, Global experts, and Practitioners in the Agrifood space from around the world.
• The top 4 startups selected from the SIF pitchers will get to pitch on stage at Y Science, a signature side event of Slush, on November 19, 2025, in Helsinki for an international audience of investors. The 4 finalists will also receive a free ticket to Slush, which is one of the biggest startup and investor events in the world. The winner of the pitching competition will get a cash prize of 5,000 euros.

Data Refinery access

All the startups selected to participate in the challenge will also be invited as part of the first cohort of the Data Refinery, a joint initiative between FAO and the University of Helsinki’s Viikki Food Design Factory that pools resources to generate value from farm-level data. 

Benefits include:

• Accessing and using valuable data sets from FAO and partners
• Mentoring with FAO’s digital agriculture & data experts
• The opportunity for 1:1 Office Hours with FAO’s global experts across the field of Agrifood
• Attending workshops on data-driven business modelling, pricing and more 

• We are looking for startups working on topics and business models that:  
  • Collect, organize, analyse, productize farm-level data into accessible, usable and useful formats, e.g. enabling interoperability and further analysis and uses
  • Create/propose business models that fairly compensate for their data  
  • Facilitate farm-level data integration into supply chain, sustainability, and market access
  • Deploy transparent mechanisms that enable farmers to sell or trade data while maintaining ownership  
  • Connect farm-level data with public and private sector needs driving sustainability and economic value across value chains and food systems.
• The participating startups should be registered companies with a minimum team size of 2 people working 50% of their working hours on the solution.
• Technology Readiness Level 3-7: Between Proof of Concept (POC) and validated technology. We aim to select companies that are already at the POC stage of their solution (both in terms of value-generation and value-capturing) and that are currently working on validating it in real market settings to confirm the full usability of the solution.
• Funding level: At minimum about to raise or already raised pre-seed funding and at most Series A funded. Annual revenue no more than €500K/year.
• Geographic location of the selected startups can be anywhere around the world.
• The startups also need to have the availability and funds to attend the FAO Science and Innovation Forum in Rome, Italy, in October (add exact dates) and (for the selected four finalists) the Y Science and Slush events on November 18-20, 2025, in Helsinki, Finland.
• Note that application submission, workshops and pitches are in English.

• August 25, 2025: Application deadline
• September 15, 2025: Selected startups are notified  
• September 16 – October 15, 2025: Online workshops for the selected startups  
• October 16, 2025: Pitching and networking at the FAO’s Science and Innovation Forum, with entry to the World Food Forum in Rome, Italy, for 10 startups  
• October 20 – November 15, 2025: 1-on-1 Pitch training for the finalists online  
• October 18, 2025: Y Science pre-event and networking in Helsinki, Finland  
• October 19, 2025: Y Science pitching competition in Helsinki, Finland, for selected 4 startups
• October 20, 2025: Networking and meeting investors at Slush
• Induction into the Data Refinery during 2026

Submit your application through the Bright idea platform at the link below: 

If you have any questions about the Challenge or application process, please contact: 

• Digital-innovation@FAO.org
• Viikkifooddesignfactory@helsinki.fi

Please include 'Data for Farm Value' in your email subject.