The 6th ProVeg Food Innovation Challenge has officially launched! This year’s competition is market-oriented and brings together eight leading companies—Beyond Meat, OATLY, Yihai Kerry Arawana, Dali Foods, Yinlu Foods, Starfield, Mogmi Bio, and Fuxiang Bio—to address real industry needs through a model of “companies setting the challenges, innovators delivering solutions.”
Whether you’re a university student or an unemployed recent graduate, this is your stage to unleash your creativity, connect with industry resources, and seize key opportunities for growth!
Join us and use your creativity to help shape the future of sustainable food—together!
Four Highlights of This Year’s Competition
1. Expanded Awards, Record-High Prize Pool
This year’s competition features 32 award slots, including 1 Grand Prize, 3 First Prizes, 8 Second Prizes, and 20 Third Prizes, with a total prize pool exceeding RMB 130,000.
2. Greater Professional Depth, Stronger Authoritative Endorsement
The competition has invited the NeoProtein Professional Committee of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST) to serve as an advisory body, providing expert support throughout the program. Each participating team may also invite a university mentor, helping to ensure the scientific rigor and feasibility of their innovative solutions.
In addition, each team may invite a mentor to provide guidance, ensuring the scientific rigor and feasibility of the proposed solution. This year, the competition is also introducing an “Outstanding Mentor Award” for the first time, encouraging deeper involvement from university faculty and creating a true innovation loop linking mentors, students, and companies.
“NeoProtein refers to emerging novel protein resources arising from the rapid development of biomanufacturing. It does not rely on traditional livestock or fisheries, and offers advantages such as resource efficiency, low-carbon and environmentally friendly production, and high production efficiency. NeoProtein is expected to partially replace conventional animal protein and become an important force in ensuring a sustainable food supply. The ProVeg Food Innovation Challenge promotes deep collaboration among industry, academia, and research, supporting the development of the NeoProtein industry with scientifically grounded and practical solutions.”
— Academician Chen Jian, Chair of the NeoProtein Professional Committee of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST)
3. Market-Focused Topics, Real-World Challenges
Challenges are jointly set by leading companies and rooted in real market needs, covering eight practical tracks spanning areas such as plant-based meat, plant-protein beverages, and snack foods. Closely aligned with Chinese consumers’ growing interest in health, nutrition, and convenient foods, these challenges require teams to showcase the sustainability advantages of plant-based products while also meeting local taste preferences and ensuring market feasibility.
In addition, leading food industry media outlet Foodaily Daily Food will join the competition for the first time as a strategic partner, providing broader industry exposure and comprehensive communications support for the event.
Beyond Meat
- Beyond Meat is a global leader in plant-based meat, dedicated to creating healthier, delicious, and more sustainable meat alternatives made from plant protein. Its current portfolio includes plant-based ground beef, ground pork, burger patties, and breakfast sausage patties, which are widely available across retail and foodservice channels.
- For this challenge, participants are invited to design a market-ready “Hero Product” signature new item with strong commercial potential, and to develop a go-to-market and promotional strategy for its launch.
- Requirements: Design an innovative new plant-based meat Hero Product.
- Develop a complete go-to-market (GTM) strategy for the product launch.
- The proposal should demonstrate: product innovation, consumer insights, and market feasibility.
OATLY
- “Dongbian Zhizao” is OATLY’s latest exploration in the plant-based space and a new initiative in China’s foodservice sector. It has already launched a range of plant-based beverages made from grains, nuts, fruits, vegetables, and more. You are now invited to use any plant-based ingredient as the core to develop an innovative beverage with health benefits and a clear functional claim.
- Requirements: Clearly define the main ingredient(s) and sensory profile (e.g., texture/mouthfeel, aroma, color, and visual presentation).
- The health benefits and functional claim must be specific and clearly articulated (targeting a defined consumer group and addressing a concrete need, such as boosting immunity, relieving fatigue, supporting digestion, etc.).
- Specify the target consumers, product positioning, key features, packaging design, pricing, and potential partnership opportunities with the company.
- Provide market evidence or supporting rationale that aligns with the functional claim.
- Develop an impactful launch plan, which may include communication strategy, sales channels, and promotional activities.
Yihai Kerry Arawana
- Yihai Kerry is committed to leveraging cutting-edge technology to deconstruct tradition—starting with every grain of rice—to write the equations of future food and build a resilient nutrition link.
- Its Mixi Rice Flour is derived from the nutritional essence of rice and is refined through processes such as separation and purification, gelatinization/maturation, and aroma enhancement. It can be used to develop a range of highly nutritious plant-based products, expanding applications and enabling functional upgrades in the market.
Requirements:
- Core application scenarios: fast-paced urban breakfasts (plant-based milk), light meal replacements (ready-to-eat plant-based meat / protein bars), sports nutrition supplementation, etc.
- Target consumers: people who pay close attention to ingredient lists, have higher fiber intake needs, or have food allergies.
- In your chosen market, please clearly define: the target consumer group, product positioning, key features and advantages, potential packaging design, and pricing strategy.
- Please also explain: your product’s competitive advantages compared with similar competing products.
Dali Foods Group
Dali Foods Group is one of China’s leading integrated food and beverage companies, with a portfolio spanning multiple categories including snack foods and drinks. This year’s challenge includes two directions:
Create a new, discussion-worthy and interactive flavor for the “Flavor Lab” series under its potato chips brand.
Develop a soy milk product for young Chinese consumers that combines clear health benefits with elements of traditional Chinese culture; or
Requirements:
- For the soy milk concept, please consider: flavor preference, nutritional benefits, cultural appeal, clean-label positioning (no additives), packaging, and pricing.
- For the potato chips concept, please consider: flavor/texture preference, product uniqueness, creative marketing and communication ideas, packaging, and pricing.
- If you include any health- or research-related claims, please provide supporting evidence or relevant research.
Yinlu Foods
Yinlu has long been committed to providing consumers with foods and beverages that are delicious, nutritious, and convenient, and has been deeply rooted in the plant-protein beverage sector for nearly 30 years. To win over more young consumers, we invite you to develop a ready-to-drink protein beverage (soy milk category) with soybeans as the primary base ingredient—grounded in an analysis of the target consumers and insights into trends in the plant-based beverage industry—delivering a product that is both nutritious and great-tasting.
Requirements:
- Define a clear target consumer profile and key needs;
- Specify the product positioning and core value proposition (key selling points);
- Outline potential packaging design and pricing;
- Explain differentiated advantages versus competing products;
- Identify the target market and sales channels;
- Develop a feasible launch plan.
Starfield
Starfield is committed to providing global consumers with delicious, healthy, and sustainable plant-based products. Its current portfolio covers plant-based meat, plant-based ingredients, innovative soy products, and snacks.
Asian cuisines feature a wide range of cooking methods—such as pan-frying, stir-frying, deep-frying, stewing, steaming, and more—and place high demands on the taste, texture, and flavor of ingredients. While the plant-based meat market is growing rapidly worldwide, most products are still geared toward Western-style dishes or hot pot scenarios, with a shortage of localized solutions designed specifically for Asian markets.
Requirements:
- Analyze development trends in the Asian plant-based meat market, including consumer preferences, culinary characteristics, and market opportunities;
- Design plant-based meat ingredients or formulations suitable for Asian cooking, ensuring stable taste, texture, and cooking performance;
- Explore innovative ways to incorporate plant-based meat into Asian dishes, such as Chinese classics (e.g., twice-cooked pork, braised dishes, steamed dishes) or local specialties from Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea;
- Define the product positioning, core selling points, and potential partners, and develop an impactful launch plan that balances market acceptance with strong communication highlights.
Mogmi Bio
Mogmi Bio is an internationally leading fungal-protein industrialization platform. Its core product, mycelium protein, offers health benefits such as high protein, high fiber, low fat, and zero cholesterol. Based on these ingredient advantages, please develop a food solution for health-conscious young consumers:
Requirements:
- Optional product lines: meal replacements (mycelium “meat” balls, meal-replacement products, protein bars), staple foods (baozi, dumplings), meat alternatives, healthy snacks, and dairy & beverage alternatives (mycelium “thick milk,” coffee creamer, milk-tea creamer).
- Please clearly define: the target audience, product positioning, usage scenarios, key features and advantages (vs. competing products), packaging, and pricing.
- Provide an impactful launch plan.
Fuxiang Bio
FuNext Protein, developed by Fuxiang Bio, is a mycoprotein that naturally delivers a fiber-like texture. With advantages such as a low-carbon footprint and high nutritional value, it offers a compelling solution for sustainable protein. Using FuNext Protein as the primary ingredient, please design a high-protein ready-to-eat (RTE) product:
Requirements:
- Designed for multiple consumption scenarios (e.g., at the office, post-workout, while traveling);
- Clearly define the target consumer group and functional selling points;
- Include packaging design ideas and price positioning;
- Highlight differentiated advantages versus competitors;
- Propose an omnichannel marketing plan and go-to-market launch strategy.
4. Expanding the Scope of Participation, Empowering Career Beginnings
In addition to undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students, this year’s competition is open to unemployed recent graduates for the first time, providing an opportunity for more young talents to unleash their creativity at the start of their careers. The competition also encourages cross-disciplinary teams (with a maximum of four members per team).
Multi-dimensional support for talent growth: Winning teams, along with their mentors, will receive opportunities for media interviews with ProVeg’s domestic and international outlets, innovation pitch presentations, and company visits. These opportunities will not only enhance students’ personal industry influence and assist in future career planning and development but also provide mentors with broad exposure and recognition for their academic achievements and guidance.
Register now to secure your spot in the competition.
The competition will be conducted in two stages: the preliminary round and the final round.
✅ The preliminary round includes two submission windows: an early-bird submission and a regular submission. The early-bird deadline is January 20, 2026, and the regular submission deadline is March 20, 2026.
Special note: We recommend submitting as early as possible via the early-bird track. If your early-bird submission is not selected, you will still have the opportunity to revise and resubmit—further improving the maturity and competitiveness of your entry.
✅ The final round will take place in mid-May 2026 and will be judged by experts from the NeoProtein Professional Committee of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST)—ensuring both strong authority and high professional standards.
The 2025 ProVeg Food Innovation Challenge website is now fully live!
Click “Read More” to access all the information you need about the competition, including key dates, how to submit your proposal, and the free support resources available to participants.
Follow our official WeChat account and reply with “FIC进群” to get answers to your questions, engage in interactive discussions, and receive team formation support.
ProVeg Food Innovation Challenge Overview
Since 2020, ProVeg has continuously hosted the Food Innovation Challenge (FIC), inviting world-renowned food companies and organizations to serve as challenge setters and judges, and putting forward innovation topics centered on plant-based diets. University students, drawing on their vibrant creativity, deep insights into the world, and passion for sustainability, have developed practical and meaningful solutions in response to these challenges.
Participants not only have the chance to win prizes, but also receive comprehensive support for innovation skills development and hands-on practice—gaining valuable experience to boost their career growth. They may also have the opportunity to showcase their proposals on a professional stage and visit leading companies.
