Sitemap

For Innovators

Maximize your potential by joining our global network.
Sign In  ●  Create Account

For Companies

Drive growth through innovation.
Learn more

Introducing SousZen

See how Xinova partners with PepsiCo and Innit to launch the new Seattle restaurant tech startup, SousZen, that aims to digitize ‘back of house’.

Find Out More


Innovation Opportunities

Seeking innovative solutions for:

Free the Water

Seeking innovators to help make a tastier
and healthier cracker!

Sign-up to participate

The Challenge

Veggie crackers are a healthy snack alternative, but the dough is too wet and sticky for mass production. Help us figure out how to dry it out.

85 – 90%

Water in veggie puree

50%

Water in sheetable dough

38 – 45%

Preferred amount of water in sheetable dough

Sign-up now to solve this!

Overview

Xinova seeks the disclosure of inventions that produce sheetable doughs using vegetable puree.

Cracker dough using vegetable puree is too wet and sticky for mass production. Too bad, because consumers want healthier baked snacks that incorporate that flavor and nutritional benefits of vegetables. Xinova is seeking ways to manage the watery dough problem so vegetables can be included into sheets of dough and baked like traditional crackers.

Some vegetable purees contain about 85% water. However, that water is hard to access because, unlike the unbound water in dough, the vege puree’s moisture is trapped within the vegetables’ cells and bound to fiber components.

Help us figure out how to unbind bound-water in vegetable purees to create “sheetable,” veggie-puree dough using existing equipment.

Are you ready to accept the challenge?

Sign-up to participate

Problem definition

Xinova wishes to invent a way to manufacture baked snacks using vegetable puree , but the purees’ excessive water content is not compatible with existing plant equipment and processes.

Currently the producer uses dough, which is approximately 50% water. The dough contains enough moisture to hydrate all dry ingredients (e.g. flours, starches) within the dough and produce a “sheetable” dough that can be easily processed, cut, and baked.

Vegetable purees typically contain 85-90% water. However, the water trapped within the vegetable cells of purees and bound to fiber components does not behave like the unbound water added to form dough and, thus, is not as effective in hydrating dry ingredients.

A mixture of dry ingredients and puree containing 50% of water by weight does not form sheetable dough like unbound water. Because of this, excess water is required to form a sheetable dough. Yet, this excess water must be removed by additional baking to achieve target water activity for shelf stability. In addition, excess water can lead to sticky dough resulting in processability issues. Finally, the resulted product often has undesired texture.

Additional baking and processing time as well as product and processability challenges with high-moisture dough make it difficult to produce snacks containing vegetable purees with existing plant equipment. Methods to produce sheetable doughs that can leverage the water contained in purees are desired.

Why is this problem valuable to solve?

Consumers are demanding healthier snacks. They want less sugar, less salt, less artificial ingredients and less processing. They want a “clean label.” The use of vegetable purees to create snacks addresses this issue. Xinova can improve the health of its consumer by reducing the water content of the vegetable puree before it is mixed with the dough, Xinova can add more puree to the dough without exceeding the desired water content, leading to a healthier snack.

An ideal solution

An ideal solution will unlock the water content of pureed vegetables to create sheetable doughs from a mixture of dry ingredients, puree, and water totaling no more than 50% water by weight, preferably between 38-45%. The ideal solution will use all the water from the puree to form dough without adding additional water.

This is where you come in.

Ready to accept the challenge and submit your solution?

Here’s how:

Get started

Challenge Partnerships

Free the Water Challenge is sponsored by PepsiCoSponsored by PepsiCo

This Xinova challenge opportunity is sponsored by PepsiCo. As one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world, PepsiCo’s mission is to provide consumers around the world with delicious, affordable, convenient and complementary foods and beverages from wholesome breakfasts to healthy and fun daytime snacks to evening treats.

PepsiCo centers its strategy and operations on the theme of Performance with Purpose – aligning what is good for their business with what is good for society and the planet. It starts with what they make – a wide range of foods and beverages from the indulgent to the more nutritious; extends to how they make their products – conserving precious natural resources and fostering environmental responsibility in and beyond their operations, and considers those who make them – striving to support communities where they work and the careers of generations of talented PepsiCo employees.

In Partnership with HeroX

This challenge is brought to you by a partnership between HeroX and Xinova, in a dedicated effort to bring innovative thinkers together to solve this problem. The challenge is being showcased on HeroX, however all submissions will be managed via Xinova’s Innovator portal. Final solutions will be reviewed and submitted to the sponsor, PepsiCo. 

The details

Awards for selected solutions

We will conduct a global review of your invention using a team of experts who will examine the technology, potential products, markets, future customers and existing landscape. We will select the best proposed solutions gathered during the circulation period of this Challenge. We will pay any awards in installments, as per your written and executed contract with us. You will be prompted on the Innovator Portal to view and sign a contract with Xinova, before a submission can be accepted.

Notices

Xinova, LLC
311 1⁄2 Occidental Ave. S. Suite #300
Seattle, WA. 98104
USA

Xinova Asia Pte. Ltd.
150 Beach Road, # 08-06/08, Gateway West Singapore 189720

Inquiries

Shivani Ludwig
sludwig@xinova.com

Get started on this challenge!

Sign-up to participate

 

 

About Xinova

Who’s Xinova?

Our curated network of 12,000 innovators and experts propel growth across the full innovation lifecycle. We partner with visionary leaders to share the risk and reward of innovation.
Think beyond.

Why should I join the Xinova Innovator Network?

Are you driven to pursue new ideas?
Do you stay awake at night thinking about ideas that positively impact business or society? Ideas that you’d like to see become a reality? If so, you know that the road from concept to commercialization is often filled with risks and obstacles. That’s where Xinova comes in. We pay you for the part you love, and handle the parts you don’t. Sign-up now.

Frequently asked questions about the Xinova Innovator Network

Let’s solve problems together!

Connect with Xinova

We are always seeking new problems to solve, as well as innovators and entrepreneurs to help us solve them. Let’s work together to create the future.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Our Worldwide Locations

USA

Xinova
PO Box #30873
Seattle, WA 98113
USA

Japan

Xinova Japan GK
Yaesu Mitsui Building 6F
2-7-2 Yaesu, Chuo-ku
Tokyo 104-0028 Japan
+81-3-6478-6120
xinova.jp

Korea

Xinova Korea
10th floor, Golfzone Tower
735, Yeongdong-daero
Gangnam-gu
Seoul 06072, Korea
+82 2 6952 8840
xinova.co.kr

Finland

Xinova Finland
Erottajankatu 5 A 4
FI-00130 Helsinki
Finland

Affiliate offices in Tel Aviv & Vienna