An inside look at the World Food Programme's innovation accelerator

Let’s talk about what’s been all the rage at this year’s Davos: artificial intelligence. All week, I’ve heard about countless AI-infused development projects — the Catalyst Group, for example, is mapping hospitals across the Central African Republic, and forecasting which are most at risk of flood damage. Tiko, for another, is tracking contraceptive stockouts, and calculating how demand will change based on the organization’s reach. And the World Food Programme is using a statistical modeling tool to streamline its supply chain operations, reducing the cost of essential food delivery. It’s just one of many programs operated by WFP’s innovation accelerator, a Munich-based initiative focused on sourcing and scaling new solutions. “We know that accelerators and innovation work in the private sector — you see it all around with artificial intelligence,” said Bernhard Kowatsch, who heads WFP’s accelerator. “Why can’t we use it not just in pilots, but at scale for humanitarian response?” The accelerator looks for innovations across the private, public, and social enterprise sectors, trains those selected teams in a one-week program, and then holds a pitch event for representatives from the government, private sector, and investment firms. The team then supports those innovations to be refined and scaled — and in 2023, WFP had reached nearly 61 million people. So, how should organizations think through innovation, AI, and digital tech, and how can those that don’t have an innovation accelerator keep up?