Open Innovation Forum – Pitching event for start-ups

The Open Innovation Forum Pitching Event for Start-ups is your chance to pitch ideas to major global players in the Food, Drink and FMCG sectors.

Senior leaders from major Food, Drink and FMCG firms such as Diageo, Twinings, Mars, Suntory, Nomad Foods, Müller, Cargill, pladis, and Kerry are holding a pitching event for innovative companies, entrepreneurs, start-ups and university spin-offs. These companies, who are members of the University of Cambridge IfM’s Open Innovation (OI) Forum, are seeking new solutions to their business challenges.

The Pitching Event is open to all individuals, research organisations and companies of all sizes and levels of maturity. Up to 20 entrepreneurs, start-ups, researchers, innovators and technology developers will be picked to pitch their ideas to a panel of key decision-makers and ‘innovation scouts’ from important Food, Drink and FMCG firms (see full list here).

FEEDBACK FROM PAST WINNERS

2025 winner - Inpute Technologies Limited, Morgan McElligott

“Taking part in the OI Forum pitching event was a rewarding experience. There was a diverse group of participants and judges who were clearly passionate about innovation. Presenting our real-time intelligence system for manufacturers to such an engaged audience was very enjoyable and being selected as the winner was great validation of our approach and messaging. The event was well-organised, and the feedback from the ‘dragons’ was invaluable. I particularly appreciated the opportunity to hear from other innovators and to see the breadth of ideas being developed across the sector.”

Hugo Adams, CEO of Kelpi, 2023 winner

“The pitching process introduced us to a very impressive group of senior decisions makers from global food and FMCG companies. One of the companies present has become a long-term R&D partner and a number of others have developed into mutually beneficial relationships. The pitch process itself incorporated some useful feedback, as well as meeting other impressive start-ups and founders. The Forum is a great opportunity to engage directly with key leaders from some of the biggest companies in the world.”

Brij Sahi, CEO and co-founder of SwissDeCode, 2018 winner

“The biggest impact was having access to key decision makers and enablers of your members. Invaluable. It was amazing to have so many in one room, and having the ability to get our message across. This led to many networking opportunities and potential business.”

REASONS TO ENTER

Present your ideas and products to around 50 senior leaders and decision-makers whose main job role is to scout for and acquire innovation and technology from outside their organisations.

Winners and highly commended entries will receive a trophy.

All finalists will receive a certificate and will benefit from publicity associated with the event.

All proposed pitches will be circulated to OI Forum members, whether they are shortlisted as finalists or not, so this is a sure-fire way of getting your idea in front of some key potential partners.

Previous Winners

Read about the OI Forums recent pitching competitions in:

2025 – Melton Mowbray, UK
2024 – Dublin, Ireland
2023 – Munich, Germany
2023 – Wageningen, Netherlands
2022- virtual event
2021 – virtual event
2020 – virtual event
2019 – London, UK
2018 – Belfast, Northern Ireland

Upcoming pitching events are advertised on our events page.

LATEST NEWS FROM THE OI FORUM

Winners of the 2025 OI Forum pitching competition announced

The Open Innovation Forum brought together leading food, drink and FMCG organisations to explore emerging technologies that advance sustainable, healthy nutrition. With start-ups showcasing solutions from AI-enabled manufacturing to circular nutrition and low-carbon ingredients, the event highlighted the region’s growing ecosystem of innovation and collaboration across the supply chain.