Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

smart kitchen startups

Calling All Startups: Apply To Pitch & Demo At 2017 Smart Kitchen Summit

One of the best parts of attending the Smart Kitchen Summit is getting a front row seat to brand new technology and innovative products that are coming down the pipeline. The event’s startup showcase is now in its third year and invites all startups in the food tech and smart kitchen space to apply for a spot.

Details

The Startup Showcase is the perfect way to demonstrate the most innovative new ideas, products and companies reinventing food, cooking and the kitchen. If you have the next great idea that will change the way we buy, cook, store, or consume food, apply today on the SKS website. Anyone with a working product that is either a late-stage working demo or actually shipping is welcome to apply free of charge.

SKS organizers will select 15 startups as finalists and they will be invited to the event to demo their product and get on the Summit stage to talk about who they are and how they’re going to change the future of food, cooking or the kitchen.

From these 15, a winner will be chosen from a mix of judges and crowd-voting and be crowned the winner of the Startup Showcase on October 10th.

To apply, fill out the application and make your case for why you deserve to be a finalist – the more articles, photos, videos and compelling info you can provide on your product and company, the better your chances are of grabbing one of the coveted tables at the 2017 Smart Kitchen Summit.

Past Startup Showcases

The Startup Showcase in 2016 proved to one of the top highlights of the Smart Kitchen Summit – attendees poured into the showcase room to see live demonstrations of 3D food printing, home growing systems, smart precision cooktops, connected spice racks and more. For startups, the Smart Kitchen Summit audience consists of directors, executives, investors and press across the tech, food, design, housewares and appliances, commerce and retail spaces.

AJ7A3037
AJ7A3081
AJ7A3145
AJ7A2948
AJ7A3068
AJ7A3048

The 2017 Showcase will not only offer a demo table and an eager audience but a demo space in the heart of the main Summit event at Benaroya Hall and a chance to pitch a panel of judges and the audience. No event brings together the decision makers and disrupters from across the food, cooking, appliance, retail and technology ecosystems. The Startup Showcase provides a platform for exciting startups, investors and entrepreneurs to demonstrate what they are working on and let others experience it firsthand.

The deadline for applications is August 15.

IKEA Gets In The Startup Game With Bootcamp Accelerator

In the last several years, we’ve seen major home, tech and food brands reach out to the startup community in the form of VC funds and accelerators to try and harness the massive innovation taking place in their markets. From General Mills, Kellogg and Google, companies are looking at hot areas like food, agriculture and housewares to find the disrupters to bring into their ecosystems.

IKEA, the maker of popular furniture and home goods – and most recently, smart lighting products – is getting into the mix, announcing the IKEA Bootcamp for startups looking to solve the world’s “Big Problems.” It’s clear IKEA is looking to cultivate and support entrepreneurs in hot innovative areas right now – including IoT, virtual reality, chatbots, food tech, drones and Big Data.

The Swedish home design conglomerate is no stranger to pursuing partnerships in search of the next big thing; last year they worked with IDEO and design students School of Industrial Design at the Ingvar Kamprad Design Centre at Lund University to come up with the Concept Kitchen 2025, a prototype of what kitchens of the future might look like.

“We are looking for startups to help us solve the IKEA ‘Big Problems’ around being truly affordable for the many people, reaching and interacting with the many, and enabling a positive impact on the planet, people and society.” -IKEA

The perks IKEA is offering startups are pretty enticing – fifteen companies will be selected to work and live in Almhult, Sweden with a stipend of 20,000 EU and free housing from September through December. Selected innovators will work in IKEA’s prototype shop and test labs and be able to tap into expertise within the IKEA Range & Supply group.

They’ll also have access to workshops, courses and mentorships from senior IKEA global business leaders. And maybe most appealing? IKEA is not looking to take any equity in accelerator startups but rather see it as an opportunity to collaborate, saying “We may end up being a customer, licensing your technology or even investing in your company, but first and foremost we want you to be working on the Big Problems and to share our vision to create a better everyday life for the many people.”

Applications are due August 6 to be part of the fall cohort, which runs from September 8 to December 18.

Are you a startup in food tech or the smart kitchen? Apply to demo at the Smart Kitchen Summit in the Startup Showcase on October 10 and 11 in Seattle, WA. Selected finalists will receive an opportunity to showcase their innovation to decision makers across tech, food, housewares and appliances, retail and commerce.

Apply by August 15 for a chance at a spot at the only event in North America dedicated to the future of food, cooking + the kitchen.