Domain: Enhancing the quality of innovation education

Action: Develop innovation curricula

Best practice title: Food Solutions programmes

Best practice summary: Food Solutions programmes provide a new form of challenged based learning at the heart of the knowledge triangle

By whom: EIT Food

Key ingredients / description: The Food Solutions programmes provide a challenge-based learning opportunity for postgraduate students that is either offered as an extracurricular activity, or in some cases for a set number of credits in the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System as codified by the Bologna process. The challenges that the students work on must fit EIT Food’s Strategic Agenda priorities and are set by one or more of EIT Food’s industrial partners to ensure industrial relevance. This also enables students to access some of the industrial partner’s resources, such as background intellectual property (e.g. research and insights), and to facilities and materials.

Supported by academic staff and industrial mentors, teams of four to five students engage in an innovation process that typically lasts about nine-twelve months in which to research the challenge, devise possible solutions, build and test prototypes, and scope out the commercialisation strategy for the proven solution; in most cases this leads to new venture formation by some or all of the team members involved in creating the solution. Depending on the organising universities, the intellectual property generated during the Food Solutions programmes either belongs to the students, or to the university where the students are registered. In the latter case, the relevant technology transfer offices are involved to grant the students access rights to commercialise their work if they want to. The programmes are set up with a minor competitive element, so that the solution deemed to be most innovative and with the most commercial potential is awarded a prize. Follow up support for viable ventures is then provided by EIT Food’s Business Creation services, such as pre-seed funding and access to further support.

Context (if applicable): University, Venture creation, Industry

Audiences (if applicable): Students, Industry

Documents (if any): NA

Links (if any):

Key success factors / How to replicate: Designed with the knowledge triangle as the core philosophy to ensure education leads to innovation which leads to venture creation and technology commercialisation

Contact person: Dr Karen Miller, km531@cam.ac.uk

Keywords (at least 5): Challenge-based learning, Food’s Business Creation, Venture creation