World Food Programme Italia Named As Patron For The Fourth Edition of Seeds&Chips, The Global Innovation Summit

Seeds&Chips ticket sales will go to supporting World Food Programme works in North East Nigeria, and the Summit will also promote ShareTheMeal, the first app designed to fight global hunger.

Milan, 26 February 2018 – The fourth edition of Seeds&Chips – The Global Food Innovation Summit (7-10 May 2018, MiCo Milano Congressi) will be under the patronage of the World Food Programme (WFP) Italia.

The WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian organization dedicated to combatting world hunger, which currently afflicts 815 million people around the globe. Seeds&Chips, which each year brings influential figures in the field of food and agricultural innovation from across academia, politics, and international institutions to Milan, will donate a portion of its ticket sales to the WFP’s emergency food operations addressing severe malnutrition in Nigeria.

Marco Gualtieri, President and founder of Seeds&Chips commented: “This year, we have once again enthusiastically joined the WFP’s initiatives and we are happy to be able to contribute to aiding the Nigerian people. The Summit has always united food, sustainability, and innovation through partnerships between startups, companies, opinion leaders and global media to address larger themes within food and the new solutions that technological development can offer, not just for the most economically advanced countries but particularly for those populations who live in poverty and struggle with a scarcity of resources.”

Beyond supporting the food assistance programs of the WFP, Seeds&Chips will be promoting ShareTheMeal, the app developed by the WFP which allows users to give food assistance to a child with a simple tap on a smartphone. Through the app, it takes only 0,40EUR cents to provide one day of food relief to one child.

“Since ShareTheMeal’s launch two years ago, more than one million people have downloaded the app and have shared more than 21 million meals with thousands of hungry children, in order to support WFP’s most critical food emergencies.” says Massimiliano Costa, Head of ShareTheMeal. “In the world, smartphones outnumber hungry children 20 to 1. This means that if we join our forces and donate through ShareTheMeal, we can reach zero hunger. For this reason I thank WFP Italia and Seeds&Chips for giving the possibility to all Summit’s participants to support WFP operations in North East Nigeria, where ShareTheMeal is aiming to provide life-saving food assistance for 100 days to those children most at risk.

“Innovation has a crucial role to play in the fight against hunger, not only for the World Food Programme but for everyone working to improve the lives of those furthest behind,” said Robert Opp, Director of Innovation and Change Management at WFP. “The availability of new technologies and approaches today presents a tremendous opportunity.  We need to test these approaches to find out what works and what doesn’t, and then scale up the most promising innovations.” Mr. Opp also noted the importance of conferences like Seeds & Chips, which represents an opportunity to further our thinking and forge new partnerships for Zero Hunger.

"New technologies and innovation applied to sustainable development represent an extraordinary opportunity for WFP", said Vincenzo Sanasi d'Arpe, President of WFP Italia. "In some of the most remote areas, the use of innovative technologies has allowed us to find more effective and unprecedented solutions to provide food assistance to the most fragile populations. We are proud,” continued President Sanasi, “to give our patronage once again to Seeds&Chips, to whom we are very grateful for their continued support of WFP humanitarian operations in North-East Nigeria. Together with Seeds & Chips we encourage everyone to support WFP by downloading ShareTheMeal, the first app against world hunger. "

The WFP notes that in the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in North East Nigeria, violence inflicted by Boko Haram affects the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. 2,6 million of people suffer from hunger and 450,000 children are severely malnourished. Violence and insecurity are causing a mass exodus: 1.62 million people live in IDP camps or communities in Nigeria and tens of thousands are forced to seek refuge in neighbouring countries, such as Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Many of those who left the country are now beginning to return, and lack basic needs like food and housing

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Seeds&Chips, The Global Food Innovation Summit, founded by entrepreneur Marco Gualtieri, is the largest Food Innovation event in the world. The Summit is a showcase entirely dedicated to promoting innovative food solutions and talent from around the world, with an exhibition hall for innovators to present their work. Together, actors from all points in the global food chain discuss the themes and projects that are changing the way in which food is produced, transformed, distributed, consumed, and recycled. At the Third edition of the Global Food Innovation Summit, President Barack Obama made his first post presidency appearance as a Keynote speaker, taking his place among 300 speakers and 240 exhibitors from around the world. In four days, the Summit recorded 15,800 visitors and 131 million social media impressions. The Fourth edition of The Seeds&Chips Global Food Innovation Summit takes place at MiCo, Milano Congressi, from May 7-10, 2018. Among the speakers scheduled to appear are Former US Secretary of State John Kerry and Howard Schultz, Executive Chairman of Starbucks.

The United Nations World Food Programme is the largest humanitarian agency dedicated to fighting global famine through emergency food assistance and improving the nutrition and resilience of communities suffering from malnutrition. Every year, WFP provides assistance to approximately 80 million people in nearly 80 countries. The WFP is 100% funded through voluntary donations and takes contributions from governments, companies and individuals.

WFP Italia is a non-profit organization working in support of the World Food Program and is the reference point in Italy for those who wish to support the WFP.

WFP’s ShareTheMeal app is a mobile-first fundraising tool that allows users to feed a child, with just a tap on their device and for as little as US$0.50. Since its launch two years ago, more than 1,000,000 people have joined the community worldwide. Users have shared over 21 million meals with thousands of hungry children in some of WFP’s most critical operations, including Yemen, Syria and South Sudan. The app has been awarded the Social Impact Award at the 2017 Google Play Awards.