Kantar calls on AI innovators, data scientists, entrepreneurs, and academics to tackle climate change

Kantar and Subak join forces to launch Kantar’s iLab Innovation Challenge to apply the power of big data and open collaboration to the most pressing environmental challenges.
17 October 2022

Kantar, the world’s leading marketing data and analytics company, in partnership with climate tech accelerator, Subak, is calling on innovators, start-ups, scale-ups, data scientists and academia to take part in Kantar’s iLab Innovation Challenge. The competition aims to uncover ground-breaking ways for consumer brands to advance their sustainability commitments – from developing eco-friendly products to designing and evaluating creative ads to promote environmental responsibility.

The task is to leverage the power of analytics and artificial intelligence to propose solutions that speed up climate actions. The challenge is an extension of both companies’ shared ethos of innovation through open collaboration. Participants will have access to multiple data resources: Subak’s Catalogue, Kantar’s Worldpanel Who Cares Who Does and social media. 

The prize fund totals $140K in value, consisting $30K cash prizes and access to Kantar proprietary data, valued at over $85K, which includes Kantar’s Who Cares, Who Does 2022 report. The first-place winner will also receive a one-year licence to Kantar Global Monitor, with insights about consumer behaviour in over 75 markets, and consultancy time from Subak to help optimise their sustainability strategy.

The challenge focuses on designing solutions for one of seven industries – mobility, consumer technology, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG/CPG), financial services, fashion and apparel, retail, and energy. Participants can review the competition guidelines and submit their proposals from 17-October to 16-December here.

Amali de Alwis MBE, CEO at Subak: At Subak, our core ethos is about collaborating and sharing data to drive real, tangible change for the climate. To do that, we need people and organisations with radical world-changing ideas. We are delighted to partner with Kantar, an organisation known for its data excellence and expertise in open collaboration in global projects. I am excited to see the innovations born from this challenge – by working together; we can amplify our impact in the fight against climate change.

Cynthia Vega, Global Partnerships at Kantar’s iLab: Consumer brands play a key role in shaping culture and enabling responsible consumption. I believe that we can genuinely have a transformational impact at scale by using big data, tech, and AI with purpose. We want to hear from innovators from all walks of life and potentially explore new horizons together. This challenge is evidence of Kantar’s commitment to positively impacting the ecosystem and the industry. 

Kantar iLab is the company’s new open innovation ecosystem. It seeks to generate ideas and proof of concepts using its AI and machine learning expertise and partnering with world-class consumer brands, academia and starts-up, including launching partners Coca-Cola, Twitter, Saïd Business School, Oxford University and Audiense.