Grand Challenges — Ultralow-Cost Diagnostics and Screening for Low-Income Countries

Grand Challenges — Cost-Reducing Innovations for Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food

Funds global teams developing innovations in protein, lipids, packaging, and manufacturing that reduce the ex-factory unit cost of ready-to-use therapeutic food by at least 30%.

Eligibility · Open globally; focus on RUTF cost reduction applicable to Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

This grant is administered by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation under its Grand Challenges program. It funds innovations in food science, materials science, and manufacturing technology that can achieve a 30% or greater reduction in the ex-factory unit cost of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) — the primary treatment for severe acute malnutrition in children. The program is distinct from the SAM system-cost challenge: it targets the physical product cost, not the delivery or protocol cost. RUTF unit cost remains a major barrier to treatment scale-up in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Two funding options: Option A awards up to $500,000 USD per project for up to 18 months, covering any of the four technical categories (protein, lipids, packaging, production/supply); Option B awards up to $1,500,000 USD per project for up to 36 months, for more advanced or integrated approaches. Multiple awards are available under each option. No total funding pool is published.

Eligible applicants include RUTF manufacturers and food processors, ingredient and packaging suppliers, engineering and technology firms, universities and research institutes, NGOs with strong technical capacity, and for-profit entities, all subject to the Gates Foundation's global access requirements. No registration-country, revenue, or team-size restrictions are stated. Individuals classified as individuals for U.S. tax purposes are not eligible.

Applications are submitted via the Grand Challenges portal. The 2026 cycle closed April 28, 2026 at 11:30 am PDT. No next cycle date is published; the program is recorded as closed pending announcement of a future round. Proposals must demonstrate a credible path to 30%+ cost reduction and include quantitative milestones.

Exclusions: innovations that only reduce SAM treatment system cost without touching product unit cost (addressed by the separate SAM system challenge); pure agricultural research without a product development pathway; solutions requiring highly specialized infrastructure that cannot scale in the global south.