Geneva – Every year, the World Economic Forum’s new champions network selects winners from a cohort of over 100 businesses as the most innovative and exciting mid-sized businesses.
This year’s winners are pioneering single-use medical devices, innovative education and a whole new approach to food security.
They are recognised for their scalability, originality and impact on the lives of people the world over.
Climate change, geopolitical crises and growing inequity are pushing the world toward an inflection point but for every challenge we face, so too do we have innovators and thinkers of all kinds stepping up to the plate to meet them.
Despite the difficulties of the past year, solutions-oriented members of the private sector have continually demonstrated that they are capable of not just mitigating economic and social harm, but actually improving the world we live in and life for people everywhere.
Among the broad category huge and established businesses soak up much of the attention, while hot new start-ups with big ideas draw exciting headlines it is often the mid-sized businesses that go unnoticed, as they scale their solutions from exciting new technologies or ideas into proven and stable businesses.
Hailing from 45 countries, the new champions community are dynamic, high-growth mid-sized companies that make a difference in the world. The new champions awards 2022 winners are:
Excellence in sustainable growth — Xenco Medical
San Diego-based medical technology company Xenco Medical has demonstrated the ability to generate lasting financial strength driven through its innovative business model, much of which focuses on the delivery of single-use polymer surgical systems.
With a focus on spinal surgery, these tools replace traditional systems used in surgery — which come with risks of infection and mechanical failure and can be deployed quickly and cost-effectively compared with traditional systems.
Excellence in societal impact — Blendhub
If 2022 has demonstrated anything, it’s that the global food system is broken and in desperate need of innovation.
Blendhub, winner of the New Champions Excellence in Societal Impact award, is implementing a network of multi-localised food production hubs that are closer to raw materials and final consumers all of it powered by technology and amounting to a food-as-a-service business model.
Blendhub brings food production to the areas that need it through portable food factories. These production hubs can be deployed anywhere in the world within six months, and are already working in India, Mexico, Spain, Colombia and Thailand.
These hubs cut can reduce the cost of any powder-based food recipe by 20-50% through improved logistics: lower storage costs, lower transportation costs and less need for international middlemen taking a cut. All this means lower food prices for the hubs’ beneficiaries and improved food security.
Excellence in adaptive capacity – Honoris Holdings
Honoris United Universities, the first and largest network of private higher education institutions in Africa, is a unique educational platform committed to delivering education that sets students up for a lifetime of success.
Honoris earned its award for Adaptive Capacity for its world-beating work in focusing on education that delivers positive outcomes. It uses augmented and virtual reality to teach students, and is in the midst of a digital transformation that is ensuring it stays ahead of the curve in terms of digital technology and education and that also ensured that when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, its students’ education was uninterrupted.
More than 770,000 people across Africa have either graduated from or are currently enrolled in Honoris’ classes and a series of high-profile partnerships with the EdTech world’s leaders, for example, to deliver medical education to future healthcare professionals, are opening up new opportunities for Honoris across Africa.
