Launched on the occasion of the International Year of Pulses 2016, the Pulse Innovation Platform (PIP) is an open invitation forum where members network and connect to identify bottlenecks hindering innovation and develop solutions beyond what individual members can achieve alone. PIP
- CONVENES partners from academia, private, public, and civil society actors in farm, food, and health sectors
- SUPPORTS pulse-based innovation in both emerging economies and industrialized countries through a consortium based initiative
- SEEDS behavioral changes and ecosystem transformation to increase demand for pulse-based products to address:
- Food insecurity;
- Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs); and,
- Lagging productivity and economic performance in the agri-food sector.
Innovation: Pathway to prosperity
PIP will become the convening body for pulse-based food innovation globally, serving as catalyst for a novel model of business engagement in bringing solutions to challenges at the nexus of farm, food and health systems to scale. PIP is an open forum for Convergent Innovation where members network and connect to identify bottlenecks hindering their own innovation and develop solutions for themselves and for society that go beyond what individual members can achieve alone. This project coincides with the United Nation’s International Year of Pulses (IYP) in 2016.
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PIP is a platform where global organizations (businesses from along the pulse value chain as well as research and development organizations) work with their global counterparts in the food sector (MNCs) and at country level. With the MNCs, PIP aims to enrich their present efforts in food product technologies by other facets of Convergent Innovation that build supply, demand and institutional capacity for superior commercial and societal return on investment.
At the country level, PIP works with and for micro, small, medium and national businesses and other actors to scale up pulse consumption and foster Convergent Innovation through behavior change and ecosystem transformation, in order to create both human and economic development outcomes for partners and for society. PIP is the first program of broader food convergent innovation accelerators in development taking Canada and India as proofs of concept.
The Challenge
- The agri-food sector is not reaching its full potential for human and economic development and is not adequately contributing to nutrition, food security, and health.
- The increasing cost of treating obesity, diabetes, and other diet-related NCDs is threatening the economic viability of industrialized and emerging countries.
- Farm, food, health, and other sectors have developed commercial technologies independently, with little synergy between commercial and social actors in each sector, or between different levels.
- This constrains the ability of traditional agri-food innovation to reach sustainable prosperity and affordable healthcare.
The Solution – A Convergent Innovation Approach
- The Pulse Innovation Platform (PIP) is a game-changing multistakeholder partnerships (MSPs) model.
- Targets the behavioral change and ecosystem transformation required in both the industrialized world and emerging economies.
- Targets a sweet spot, considering agriculture, health, and wealth outcomes together and leveraging them in a holistic manner to better harness the power of business and jointly target economic growth and human development.
