Bernhard Kowatsch is the head of the Innovation Accelerator of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), which he created in 2015.

Why you should listen

Bernhard Kowatsch leads the WFP Innovation Accelerator, which sources, nurtures and scales startups and nonprofits that disrupt global hunger. In 2021 alone, it positively impacted the lives of more than eight million people and raised more than 160 million dollars in grant funding. The accelerator has supported more than 100 innovations with funding and runs 18 sustainable development goals accelerator programs for external partners like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Humanitarian Grand Challenges and other UN Agencies in different areas.

Kowatsch's interest areas include tech for good, blockchain, artificial intelligence, social entrepreneurship and technologies disrupting global hunger. Prior to starting the accelerator, he cofounded the ShareTheMeal app, which crowdsources funding for WFP and has provided more than 135 million meals for hungry children worldwide. He also built WFP's internal management consulting unit based in Rome and was previously a project leader at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for global tech and industrial goods companies. He holds three master's degrees from HEC Paris and Vienna University of Business and Economics.

Bernhard Kowatsch’s TED talk

More news and ideas from Bernhard Kowatsch

News

The talks of TED@BCG 2022

March 16, 2022

The world is facing an unprecedented pace of change. In a day of talks and performances, a diverse group of experts explore how to stay ahead of the curve — covering everything from the value of purpose in business to the democratization of storytelling and the exciting potential of human-AI collaboration. The event: TED@BCG 2022 […]

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