Coca-Cola's $1 million prize for sugar substitute

Coca-Cola has launched two sweetener challenges on the HeroX crowdsourcing platform to develop sweeteners that can act as alternatives to sugary or calorific drinks, one aimed at the public and the other at scientists.

While Coca-Cola already has a wide portfolio of soft drinks, including the recently launched Coca-Cola No Sugar, it aims to address consumer demands for natural and low-calorie diets which can be achieved using natural sweeteners.

“We’re always searching for newer, better ingredients, and we know that amazing ideas can come from anywhere,” Coca-Cola SVP and Chief Innovation Officer Robert Long said. “These two challenges are very much rooted in our desire to make the drinks our consumers want to drink, and in our willingness to look beyond the walls of our company for breakthrough sugar alternatives that help us deliver the great taste people love but with less sugar and fewer calories.”

The ‘sweet story challenge’ invites members of the public to submit stories and videos about their favourite methods of naturally sweetening foods or drinks in their everyday lives. Submissions are now open and must comply with the judging criteria to be in with a chance of winning. According to the criteria, the submission should be an innovative, engaging and well-crafted story that evokes emotions. Winners will be awarded US$100,000 (AU$126,710) in total, with up to five individual or team prizes, but the company has explicitly stated that they may choose to award fewer than five prizes.

The second challenge, known as the ‘sweetener challenge’ calls on researchers and scientists to find a naturally sourced, low-calorie compound that tastes like sugar when used in beverages and foods. Ideally, the molecule or substance will perform in the same way as sucrose in terms of taste, safety, cost and consumer perception. However, it cannot contain Stevia or monk fruit and submissions must demonstrate a graphic representation of the chemical structure as well as test results for stability in sunlight and pH. Coca-Cola will be narrowing down the finalists in early 2018 and the winner will be announced in October 2018, with a prize of US$1 million (AU$1,267,200).

Leading the project is Coca-Cola’s External Technology Acquisition Team, which studies and invests in emerging ingredients, packaging materials and product technologies.

James Quincey, CEO at Coca-Cola, emphasised the importance of constantly innovating in order to build a consumer-centric brand. These two challenges provide insights into consumer preferences and allow the company to develop a product that suits their needs.

“We’re seeing what consumers want and making adjustments immediately. Because at the end of the day, speed and agility are critical in this rapidly changing consumer landscape.”