Bernhard Kowatsch is the head of the Innovation Accelerator at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), which received the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. The WFP Innovation Accelerator was named by Fast Company as the best workplace for innovators and was also named Innovative Team of the Year 2020 for its work in identifying, nurturing and scaling disruptive startups and innovations to end global hunger.

In 2019, innovations supported by the WFP accelerator positively impacted the lives of 1.4 million people directly, and many more indirectly, across the globe. Recently, the accelerator began running programs for external partners, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Humanitarian Grand Challenge, among others.