Startup accelerator Unilever Foundry has announced a new partnership with crowdfunding website Indiegogo as part of its commitment to empowering entrepreneurs both inside and outside Unilever.

The enterprise crowdfunding partnership will aim to support and create consumer-championed products and sustainable solutions, from ideation through to development and distribution, with Unilever providing mentorship and additional support to fledgling companies.

Through the partnership, social entrepreneurs will submit solutions to challenges put forward by various Unilever brands, which will centre around sustainability, with the community invited to collaborate and build on ideas. The most popular solutions will then be judged by a panel of experts, and given a chance to launch a supported campaign through Indiegogo to bring their products to life.

“This new partnership with Indiegogo will allow us to apply our learnings from the Foundrys Pitch-Pilot-Partner approach, which dramatically cuts the time it takes to get a new initiative to market, to the wider business while putting consumers at the heart of decision making,” said Aline Santos, senior vice president of global marketing at Unilever.

“The platform also supports our ambition to decouple our growth from our environmental footprint, while increasing our positive social impact. By redefining business models and identifying new growth opportunities, we have the ability to change the way we do business at Unilever and reach our goal of making sustainable living commonplace.”

The first idea to move from Unilevers startup accelerator to a crowdfunding campaign will be BwareITs wi-fi connected water consumption monitor. The device attaches to taps and showers to display water consumption and temperature in real time, and aims to help people save on their water bills by better understanding their consumption habits.