Feeding the World Through Innovation: How Technology and the Corporate Sector Collaborate to Fight Global Hunger

Panelists will include:

  • Bernhard Kowatsch, Director of WFP’s Innovation Accelerator
  • Gabriela Alvarado, WFP Chief of IT Emergency Preparedness and Response
  • Dr. Tiffani Burt, Executive Director of the Materials Lifecycle Team at Sealed Air Innovation and Sustainability

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2020 was awarded to the U.N. World Food Programme in October 2020. Founded in 1961, the United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, focusing on hunger and food insecurity, and remains the largest provider of school meals.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Nowhere is that truer than at the United Nations World Food Programme, the largest humanitarian organization on a mission to create a zero-hunger world. Innovation and technology has been fundamental to the U.N. World Food Programme’s operations and logistics for sixty years and a driving force behind its ability to feed and support more than 100 million people each year. In its early years, the U.N. World Food Programme introduced humanitarian airlifts, airdrops and vehicle leasing, email via radio connections and assistance distribution through e-vouchers. Today, it leverages technology including mobile, biometrics, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and digital finance to empower and improve the lives of its beneficiaries. When faced with conflict, disaster or famine, every second and every mile can be the difference between life and death. Innovation is essential to enabling WFP to scale and respond quickly to emergencies so that it helps as many people as possible.

Join us as we talk to experts and private-sector partners about the cutting-edge technology that the U.N. World Food Programme currently employs and the solutions currently under development at the Innovation Accelerator to resolve key humanitarian challenges.

 

 

Program Partners – WACA Engage America Series

Date: Thursday, February 4, 2021
Time: 10 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Cost: Free for WACC Members and Non-members

After the program, WACC members are invited to stay online in the Zoom meeting for a reception. We will enable your microphone and camera for half an hour of networking and dialogue.

Gabriela Alvarado is Chief of IT Emergency Preparedness and Response for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Rome, Italy. She oversees the Global Emergency Telecommunications Cluster team (ETC), the Unmanned Aircraft System project and the Fast IT & Telecommunications Emergency Support Team (FITTEST). Gabriela has worked in IT emergency responses with WFP for nearly 20 years, including in Iraq, Kenya, Sudan and Panama. Most recently, she led the ETC response during Hurricanes Irma & Maria in the Caribbean, which provided support to several affected countries in the region. Over the years, Gabriela has led multiple WFP technology teams in service management and policy, as well as projects in emergency preparedness and response. She has built strong partnerships with private sector and humanitarian organizations to improve the way technology can strengthen emergency responses. A Nicaraguan national, Gabriela studied Systems Engineering and holds an MBA in Technology Management from Colorado Technical University.

Bernhard Kowatsch is Head of the Innovation Accelerator at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The Accelerator identifies, nurtures and scales disruptive startups and entrepreneurs that accelerate progress towards zero hunger. Innovations include fintech (e.g. blockchain), agri-tech, supply chain and technology (e.g. Artificial Intelligence) innovations. The Accelerator received an award as one of the ’10 Most Innovative Companies 2017- Food’ by FastCompany. Previously, Bernhard co-founded the award-winning ShareTheMeal app (SXSW Interactive innovation award 2016, MWC Glomo award winner.), built up WFP’s Business Innovation team and worked as Project Leader at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for global tech and industrial goods companies.

Dr. Tiffani Burt is the Executive Director of the Materials Lifecycle Team within Sealed Air’s Innovation and Sustainability organization focusing on enablement of Sealed Air’s 2025 Plastics Pledge. Tiffani has been with Sealed Air for 9 years and has driven research efforts in the areas of microlayering and bioprocessing with her current focus being on sustainability. During her first 4 years at Sealed Air, she was a product development engineer within the Medical Division followed by a role leading a multi-disciplinary team with project areas spanning from machine learning to pathogen detection on the front end of innovation. Today, her team is responsible for using innovation to create a circular economy for plastic packaging through novel design enabling recyclability and developing collaboration scenarios across the value chain. She has a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Doctorate in Macromolecular Science and Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. Tiffani has been passionate about diversity and inclusion in STEM fields throughout her graduate and industrial career and is an active member of the Global Women’s Initiative Network Steering Committee at Sealed Air. During her spare time, she is an outdoor enthusiast and loves hiking and rock climbing with her family.