EIT Food MAKEit
An infrastructure to hack simpler and smarter food value chains
MAKEit MAKEathon will be held on 20-21, 26 November 2020 in Warsaw, Poland.
About EIT Food
EIT Food is one of the largest and most impactful food-related initiatives worldwide. As a part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), EIT Food connects partners from leading businesses, universities and research centres across Europe. It is a people-centric and resource-smart transformer of the European food system, driving consumer confidence and improved global health.
EIT Food wants to transform Europe’s food system, making it better for people’s health and better for the environment. EIT Food is a pan-European partnership designed to empower innovators, entrepreneurs and students to develop world-class solutions to food challenges, accelerate innovation, create jobs and increase Europe’s competitiveness. As one of the largest food-related initiatives worldwide, EIT Food wants Europe to lead a global revolution in food innovation and production, improve nutrition and make food systems more resource-efficient, secure, transparent and trusted. Support for entrepreneurial talents and startups belongs to EIT Food’s key strategic directions, and it is accomplished through a portfolio of instruments, offered for beneficiaries at different levels of maturity, diversified needs and types of technologies.
About EIT Food MAKEit
Creating smarter and simpler food value chains across Europe requires an infrastructure and capacity to stimulate and support innovation and entrepreneurship. MAKEit supports this demand by developing and equipping a sustainable network of maker spaces, intermediaries, and food sector organizations across Europe to cultivate, test, and support the early-stage development of new ideas and generate tangible prototypes for smarter, simpler, and more sustainable food value chains. This project aims to develop these through:
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Using existing information and industrial challenges to inform MAKEathons around specific food industry chains.
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Designing and delivering a series of MAKEathons across Europe where diverse stakeholders come together to find solutions to specified industry challenges in particular value chains;
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Convening a network of ‘maker spaces’ with a dedicated agrifood focus that offer sustained space for ideating and making as well as further prototyping resources;
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Building capacity in designing and delivering MAKEathons and related activities (including support of ideas beyond the MAKEathons) by training professionals in order to develop entrepreneurial capabilities across the food value chain in Europe.
How does MAKEathon work?
A MAKEathon works like a hackathon but with the additional opportunity to make a physical prototype of the ideas generated. Within a short period of time, participants creatively develop solutions to challenges and are provided with facilities (e.g. makers paces) to prototype their ideas. During the MAKEathon, participants develop concepts and product prototypes that have the potential to alleviate various problems with the potential for a large-scale societal impact provided by several players from different food value chains, which underpin broader challenges. MAKEit tackles problems in various food supply chains, including fruit & vegetable, sugar, cocoa, dairy, meat, bread & bakery, and seafood.
Participants will receive:
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A possibility to solve real-time problems provided by several players from different food value chains
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Mentoring by food experts from around Europe
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Access to world class high-tech industrial equipment and experts who support its use for prototyping
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Possibility of working on modern solutions
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Contribute to a new product development
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Paving the path for a startup
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Awesome prizes and Fun!
Benefit for Industry:
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Collaboration with Europe’s leading food innovation initiative (EIT Food
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A unique opportunity to address different food value chains intractable yet potentially solvable problems
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A possibility to address specific problems provided by the industry
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Access to fresh ideas, new product concepts, and a pool of expertise during MAKEathon.
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A possibility to run similar MAKEathons in the future by replicating MAKEit MAKEathon scenarios.
Project Partners
AZTI, member of Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA) transforms science into solutions that respond to the great challenges of the food value chain. To do this, it develops sustainable products, services and business initiatives aimed at activating the industrial fabric while recovering and preserving natural resources. AZTI has developed an important network of collaborating centres. It contributes to innovation, creating value and increasing competitiveness in the public and private sectors.
The German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL) is a private, independent and non-profit research provider. With around 150 member companies from the food industry and related fields, DIL operates as a research institute working in the areas of product development, process development and analytics.
DIL considers placing itself into the innovation framework of EIT Food as the unique opportunity to support its partners in the innovation process and to establish new collaborations along the entire food value chain system.
ETH, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology is a technical university with focus on engineering and natural sciences. By integrating as well the humanities and social sciences, ETH devises innovative concepts of education and research which shall allow us to tackle the enormous challenges facing mankind, and help lay a path for a meaningful and sustainable development of present and future civilisations.
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) is a Life Sciences specialised academic institution, ranked 11th worldwide and 4th in Europe.
UAM hosts 2 complementary Food&Nutrition Institutes:
- CIAL (UAM-CSIC): focused on innovation in food design for nutrition and health.
- IMDEA Food: targeting precision nutrition for human chronic disease prevention.
Matis is an independent, governmentally owned, food and biotech R&D company headquartered in Iceland. We are active participants in many national and international R&D and innovation projects, including FP7 and Horizon2020 programmes, and have an ongoing fruitful global cooperation with many of the world largest food and ingredient companies, a large number of SMEs and entrepreneurs, as well as universities and institutes.
Queen’s University Belfast is one of the leading universities in the UK and Ireland with a distinguished heritage and history. Today, Queen’s is ranked in the top 173 universities in the world (QS World Rankings 2020), with the second highest ranking in Ireland. The Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS) specialising in the key areas of the integrity of global food supply, farms of the future and nutritional challenges for the 21st Century.
Rikolto is an international NGO building bridges of trust and trade, between the food industry, governments, research institutions, banks and farmer organisations around this one central question: “What will we eat tomorrow?”. We plant and harvest new solutions, making the food system more transparent, so consumers are able to make a sustainable choice.
A world-leading University whose mission is to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.
VTT is one of the leading research, development and innovation organisations in Europe. We help our customers and society to grow and renew through applied research. The business sector and the entire society get the best benefit from VTT when we solve challenges that require world-class know-how and translate them into business opportunities. Our vision is that a brighter future is created through science-based innovations. VTT – beyond the obvious.
Queen’s University Belfast is one of the leading universities in the UK and Ireland with a distinguished heritage and history. Today, Queen’s is ranked in the top 173 universities in the world (QS World Rankings 2020), with the second highest ranking in Ireland. The Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS) specialising in the key areas of the integrity of global food supply, farms of the future and nutritional challenges for the 21st Century.
EIT Foodis one of the largest and most impactful food-related initiatives worldwide. As a part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), EIT Food connects partners from leading businesses, universities and research centres across Europe. It is a people-centric and resource-smart transformer of the European food system, driving consumer confidence and improved global health.
The University of Warsaw, the largest and top-ranked university in Poland, Polish leader in implementing R&D projects, has scientific expertise in multiple fields: social and economic sciences, management sciences, mathematical and computer sciences, chemistry and biology as well as research strengthening the sustainability of the food system.
Project Team
How to Apply
We are looking for motivated individuals or teams that:
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Are a master student, doctoral and postdoc researcher with creative minds and multidisciplinary expertise ready to make a big impact on fruit and vegetable sector including the way we produce, deliver, and consume
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Are a employee of industrial companies, entrepreneur, or people who consider establishing a startup in the field of fruits and vegetable processing, fresh produce online shopping and delivery, packaging, and product design.
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Able to work intensively in a team over 3 days and, most importantly, ready to take on the challenge: “How to sustain the fruit & vegetable intake not only during the COVID-19, but for future disruptions such as climate change and other pandemics”.
Please note: that we expect active, consistent engagement in the MAKEathon – this requires virtual (online) presence from the participants at 2-day event, followed by a pitch day after four days of pause in between.
To apply to the
Warsaw 2020 MAKEit Fruit & Veg MAKEathon,
please fill in the application form:
The application deadline is 10th November 2020.
Contact
If you would like to know more about the project,
please do not hesitate to get in touch with mez(@)wz.uw.edu.pl
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