Challenge Lab FoodHack: How to reduce and efficiently use food waste?
Food waste is one of the biggest environmental and economic problems of our time. One third of global food production goes to waste, which, in addition to the significant environmental impacts, represents an economic loss of nearly a trillion dollars annually. Challenge Lab Czechia 2025 is looking for startup solutions that address this problem in key sectors and deliver commercial potential.
You can register HERE
This event is in Czech.
What is the challenge?
Approximately one third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted somewhere between the producers (farms) and the consumers (us humans). This huge inefficiency has economic, social and environmental consequences. This is because these foods are grown on farmland the size of China, consume around a quarter of all the water used in agriculture and are responsible for an estimated 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, they cause economic losses of approximately USD 940 billion a year. We have therefore chosen to target these key areas in our challenges:
1. Gastro businesses (hotels, restaurants, catering companies)
Restaurants, canteens and bistros struggle with miscalculated portions and poor planning of ingredients, leading to surpluses on plates and in warehouses.
Goal: Implement efficient processes, engage staff and guests, reduce costs and waste, find new ways to use leftovers.
Challenge sponsor:
Zátišà Group is one of the most important catering companies in the Czech Republic. It operates award-winning restaurants (such as V ZátišĂ, MlĂ˝nec and Bellevue) and offers top catering services. It employs hundreds of employees and has a turnover of around half a billion Czech crowns a year.
2. Consumers
According to many studies, up to half of food waste takes place in households. Families often buy more food than they actually need and use, store it incorrectly or do not know how to process it without waste. Interestingly, however, young people from Generation Z waste the most food - even though sustainability is one of their key themes.
Aim: The Challenge Lab is looking for a commercial solution to help young people reduce Food Waste, supporting their efforts to live a more sustainable lifestyle.
Challenge sponsor:
The Faculty of Business and Economics at Mendel University in Brno specialises in economics, management and other business-related fields. It links education with current environmental challenges and tries to involve Generation Z in solving sustainability-related problems.
3. Retail (supermarkets, discounters and other shops)
Retail chains often throw away unsold food due to approaching expiry dates, poor demand estimation or unaesthetic appearance of goods. This results in high economic losses and wastes valuable resources needed for food production.
Goal: We are looking for smart solutions to help reduce the volume of unsold food, plan inventory more effectively, and engage staff and customers in preventing waste.
Challenge Sponsor:
Ahold Czech Republic, a.s. is one of the largest retail players in the Czech Republic with sales in the tens of billions of CZK. It operates an extensive network of supermarkets and hypermarkets, selling a huge amount of food on a daily basis. Linking a profitable model with a sustainable approach is therefore one of Ahold's key priorities and a motivation for finding innovative solutions that reduce food waste and promote circular principles.
SCHEDULE  Â
BLOCK 01 | KICK OFF PARTY | introductions and team division  Â
Monday 14 April 2025 | 13.00-17.00 | in person at the JIC  Â
At the beginning you will meet the other participants by speed dating. We will talk in depth about the hackathon challenge and the hackathon program. Afterwards, entrepreneur and mentor of startups at JIC, Libor HoĹ™enĂ, will share his story with you - how he started his own projects with commercial application.  Â
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BLOCK 02 | Design Thinking and Lean Canvas + technical topic  Â
Wednesday 16/04/2025 | 13.00-15:00 | hybrid  Â
Design Thinking is a process that deals with solving complex problems with a primary focus on the user. This method is made for hackathon challenges, so we will explore it at the start of the second session. We will then look at a second, equally important method: the Lean Canvas. This is a useful tool for creating a business plan. It will help you quickly and efficiently identify the key elements of a business and answer key questions when creating a new business plan. It is used especially when implementing new projects.   Â
In the second part, we will open a technical topic that will help you to understand the problem defined by the challenge in more detail.  Â
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BLOCK 03 | customer and idea validation | introduction to circular economy  Â
Wednesday 23/04/2025 | 13.00-16:00 | hybrid  Â
9 out of 10 emerging startups in the Czech Republic will close within a year.  That's why one of the most important topics in the creation of new projects is validation and the topic of the customer. We will uncover concepts like prototype or MVP and talk about how to grasp the process of idea validation. In the second part we will talk about the principles of the circular economy, look at different data in this field and share examples of good practice.  Â
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Mentoring session 1 with business consultants  Â
Friday 25 April 2025 | 13.00-15.00 | online  Â
With your assigned mentors, you will have the space to discuss any questions you may have in the areas of project validation, MVP (Minimum Viable Product) creation, customer prospecting, future direction of project solutions and other development areas.   Â
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BLOCK 04 | Finance and cashflow, funding sources for project start-up  Â
Monday 28 April 2025 at 13.00-15.00 | hybrid  Â
We will discuss business planning, how to set up finances in a start-up project, factors that come into play, and pricing.  Â
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Mentoring session 1 with business consultants  Â
Friday 25 April 2025 | 13.00-15.00 | online  Â
With your assigned mentors, you will have the space to discuss any questions you may have in the areas of project validation, MVP (Minimum Viable Product) creation, customer search, further direction of project solutions and other development areas.   Â
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BLOCK 04 | Finance and cashflow, funding sources for project start-up  Â
Monday 28 April 2025 at 13.00-15.00 | hybrid  Â
We will discuss business planning, how to set up finances in a start-up project, factors that come into play, and pricing.  Â
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Mentoring session 3 with business consultants  Â
Wednesday 7 May 2025 | 13.00-15.00 | online  Â
To give you the opportunity to get feedback from professionals and experts in the bio-waste field, we have created an expert board.  You will be able to connect with them during the mentoring session to discuss solutions to your chosen challenge.  Â
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BLOCK 05 | Presentation skills  Â
Monday 12 May 2025 at 13.00-16.00 | hybrid  Â
To help you sell your project well, in block 5 we will focus on presentation skills. We will look at how to create a good pitchdeck and how to present it well afterwards. Â
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Mentoring session 4 with experts  Â
Wednesday 30 April 2025 | 13.00-15.00 | online  Â
To give you the opportunity to get feedback from experts and practitioners in the field of food waste, we have created an expert board.  You will be able to connect with them during the mentoring session to discuss solutions to your chosen challenge.  Â
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BLOCK 06 | Final day - pitch session  Â
Monday 19 May 2025 | 13.00-16.00 | in person at JIC  Â
In the final session you will present your solution to mentors and referees who will evaluate your solution based on various criteria. Â
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To find out more, please visit: https://www.jic.cz/cz/challenge-lab
To register:Â https://www.jic.cz/cz/challenge-lab-jaro-2025
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