Midwest Food Recovery SummitThe IWRC has just announced that the 2018 Midwest Food Recovery Summit will again host an Innovator Lightning Round and this year, with sponsorship from the University of Northern Iowa's Center for Business Growth and Innovation (CBGI), the winner of the 2018 Lightning Innovator Round will walk away with $1,000.

“We’ve partnered in the past with the Center for Business Growth and Innovation and it’s a natural fit to work together on the Innovator Lightning Round,” says Joe Bolick, Communications and PR Manager for the IWRC. "Using CBGI's format, we're making this year's Innovator Lightning Round more interactive and incorporating a voting process into it." 

From now until Tuesday, July 17, businesses, non-profits, and entrepreneurs can submit their innovative food waste solution for the contest. Accepted solutions will be part of an online voting period where innovators recruit clients, friends, family, long-lost relatives - everyone they know, to vote for their solution. The innovator with the highest number of votes gets an automatic invitation to take the stage at the Midwest Food Recovery Summit on Thursday, September 13, 2018 in Des Moines, IA, with five other innovators invited by the summit committee. 

The six finalists will have five minutes to present their solution followed by three minutes of rapid-fire questions from summit attendees. At the end, attendees will vote live to determine who walks away with the $1,000.

2017 Innovator Lightning Round WinnerLast year’s special event brought together six innovative businesses/non-profits who showcased their food waste reduction, recovery, and recycling efforts. After rapid-fire presentations and Q&A, attendees voted live for the most innovative and Laurel Burleson from Ugly Apple Cafe in Madison, WI won.

For more information and full timeline, head over to Innovator Lightning Round to learn about how it works!

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