Food-related European Education in the Digital era to Motivate Innovative New-product Development Erasmus Project

Project Title

Food-related European Education in the Digital era to Motivate Innovative New-product Development

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal); Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Europe’s Food and Drink Industry represents 4.57 million people employed throughout the EU, a turnover of €1.1 trillion and €230 billion in value added, which make it the largest manufacturing industry in the EU. There is a strong innovation dynamic in this sector to answer consumer’s expectations, which has been leading to the development of R&D departments and to the increase in agri-food start-ups European-wide. Although students demonstrate will for the development of innovative food products, as comproved by the national and European ECOTROPHELIA competitions, it seems that it is not enough for them to launch their products on the market. European students in food-related courses, i.e. the future professionals of the sector, show skills gaps when it comes to areas such as project management, entrepreneurial mind-set, communication, marketing, finances and business plan, because the HEIs’ curriculum is, in most cases, focused on food sciences and process. These skills gaps limit their potential to create their own company and even to better succeed in the professional world.
In this context, FEEDtheMIND project intends to demonstrate that the European food education requires a systemic, interdisciplinary approach based on a food innovation education of excellence and a project-based approach. Thus, the objectives of this project are to adapt, test and implement a digital pedagogical platform focusing on the development of an innovative food product; facilitate the exchange of pedagogical methods between the different European HEIs partner organisations; contribute to the rethink of the curriculum design by enabling HEIs to provide online courses. Ultimately, this project aims to foster entrepreneurship among students attending food-related degrees.
The FEEDtheMIND project is supported by a set of seven complementary partners, who bring to the project their skills, expertise, and fields of application necessary to meet the project’s ambitions, namely: six HEIs of excellence, among the ten leader HEIs in their domain European-wide, and one federative structure, the EEIG ECOTROPHELIA EUROPE that brings together 8 national food federations i.e. 70% of the European agribusiness, and the CCI Vaucluse the founder of the ECOTROPHELIA food Innovation Laboratory.
FEEDtheMIND targets three groups of participants: 1) higher education students that will directly benefit from the digital pedagogical platform developed to tackle their skills gap and to promote their creativity and entrepreneurship; 2) higher education professors/researchers/pedagogical staff that will benefit from the exchange of good practices and the innovative pedagogical methods; and 3) professionals from the food sector that will share their expectations regarding the industry’s future professionals.
The major activity of this project will be the development of a digital pedagogical platform that will allow the students to acquire transversal skills and competences by following their individual path. During the last year of the project, the partner HEIs will encourage their students to be part of transnational teams, through a mobility activity and/or virtually, and develop innovative food products supported by the FEEDtheMIND multidisciplinary digital learning tool.
This project will link education with research and innovation, by supporting students in the development of innovative food products both by monitoring in person (pedagogical staff) and by providing an online multi-disciplinary course that will address the topics (knowledge or skills) identified as underdeveloped in the participating countries.
In the long term, this project will have an impact at three different levels: 1) at an individual level (the students), by proposing a pedagogical approach that delivers knowledge and transversal competences, promotes an entrepreneurial mind-set and creative thinking; 2) at an organisational level, by training professors/researchers and staff and consequently improving the quality of education, and by strengthening the cooperation and network between leader HEIs in five different countries; and 3) at a system level, by contributing to a more innovative food sector through the training of the future professionals of this sector and the connection between HEIs and the industry.

Project Website

http://feedthemind.ecotrophelia.org

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 362829 Eur

Project Coordinator

EEIG ECOTROPHELIA EUROPE & Country: FR

Project Partners

• UNIVERSITAET FUER BODENKULTUR WIEN
• AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS
• INSTITUT NATIONAL DES SCIENCES ET INDUSTRIES DU VIVANT ET DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT – AGROPARISTECH
• UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI
• UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE VALENCIA
• Institut national d’enseignement supérieur pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement