Today's News

Canadian Food Innovation Network Invests $85,667 in Burnaby-based Trendi Tech Inc. ($338k in Four Food Sector Projects Across Canada)

Burnaby, BC, August 4, 2022--(T-Net)--The Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN) has announced an investment of $338,000 into four projects across Canada valued at nearly $700,000 through the organization's Innovation Booster program.

Burnaby-based robotics start-up company Trendi Tech Inc. is receiving $85,667 to demonstrate new avenues for repurposing ingredients through the evolution of its Smoothie Machine -- a healthy and automated vending solution that will offer fresh fruit smoothies and hot soup options to create a full circle economy utilizing upcycled fruits and vegetables.

The title of its project is "From purees to powders: Using rescued foods for healthy soups" and is expected to result in the reduction of food waste through upcycling and improved access to more sustainable and local food options for Canadian businesses and consumers.

"The funding from CFIN means we can jump start the design for a hot soup kiosk, which will use our own freeze-dried products. While making it easy for people to get nutritious food on the fly, we will begin to create a circular economy." said Craig McIntosh, CEO at Trendi Tech Inc.

To view the full list of all four Innovation Booster funding recipients, click here:

The Innovation Booster, which is administered by CFIN and supported by the Government of Canada's Strategic Innovation Fund, provides flexible and rapid support to Small or Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as they address food innovation challenges or technical hurdles that have created barriers to achieving their commercialization goals.

CFIN says it received 27 applications from organizations based in 16 cities across Canada including Port Coquitlam, Calgary, Edmonton, Kitchener, Quebec City, and Halifax.

The next round of Innovation Booster funding opens July 20, 2022, and applications are due by September 12, 2022.

The intake will focus on projects addressing Food Ecosystem Sustainability, which includes development and innovation across these areas:

• food waste reduction
• higher value recovery
• circularity and upcycling
• green and smart packaging
• more efficient use of inputs including energy, water and carbon

Applicants must be members of the Canadian Food Innovation Network. Membership is free and open to anyone in the Canadian food sector.

"The CFIN team is energized by innovative activity we're seeing nationally as demonstrated in the applications received for the booster. This further validates the need to support and invest into Canadian food innovation and continue to catalyze activity in the food sector. These four winning projects are demonstrating impactful solutions that will reduce food waste, improve food safety, and digitize our supply chains, which will provide direct benefits for companies and consumers coast-to-coast." said Joseph Lake, CEO, Canadian Food Innovation Network.

"Canada has endless potential in the food innovation space, and we're tapping into this potential like never before thanks to the work of the Canadian Food Innovation Network—a dynamic and collaborative nationwide network of businesses and innovators. The funding announced today will help drive innovation and give Canadian companies a leading edge in the global food sector." stated François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry.

ABOUT TRENDI TECH INC.

TrendiTech Inc. is a Canadian-based start-up dedicated to creating robotic product solutions for the food and beverage industry through its agri-food technology. Its mission is to rescue misfit and excess foods at the source and upcycle them into nutritious shelf-stable products for human consumption - creating a circular economy for the food waste diversion industry.

ABOUT THE CANADIAN FOOD INNOVATION NETWORK

The Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN) is a national non-profit, member-based organization that's stimulating transformative and transferrable innovation across the Canadian food sector. We connect the Canadian food ecosystem to fresh insights, ideas, and technologies to elevate their business and increase their innovation capacity. You can become a CFIN member (for free!) in less than five minutes. https://www.cfin-rcia.ca/

RELAVENT LINKS

Innovation Booster program:

https://www.cfin-rcia.ca/booster-propulseur