Announcing Beyond Cups Challenge

The Queensland Government is on the hunt for the state’s leading innovators and entrepreneurs with ground-breaking solutions to reduce our reliance on harmful single-use coffee cups and lids and similar containers.

The challenge is seeking to find business-ready solutions to both the cups and containers, and processes to enable improved recovery and recycling of these items.

The Department of Environment and Science (DES) is partnering with the Office of the Queensland Chief Entrepreneur and Innovation Architects to run Beyond Cups, an innovation challenge to source and fast track the opportunity for Queensland businesses to develop and grow new solutions to reduce single-use items, focusing on takeaway coffee cups, lids and similar takeaway cups, containers and bowls.

The accelerator style program will begin with recruiting Queensland businesses that are working to deliver single-use plastic pollution solutions.

Network 10 coverage of the Beyond Cups launch event by Pippa Sheenan - link

Innovation Architects will lead an intensive bootcamp for the selected businesses to pitch their product or service and assess their market readiness for suitability to continue with the program.

A shortlisted number of these businesses will seek to collaborate with industry partners who will assist with developing a commercial proof of concept.

The strongest innovators will be given the opportunity to pitch their solutions to industry and government partners through this program, anticipated to be completed by the end of this year.