FPDI Announces 2017 Student Innovation Challenge

The Food Protection and Defense Institute (FPDI) Student Innovation Challenge is a unique opportunity for interdisciplinary student teams to work collaboratively to analyze food supply chains. FPDI is seeking functional, interactive tools that allow a user to characterize and visualize food supply chains. 

All seven billion people on this planet need to eat. With population projections reaching nine billion in the next 40 years, the need for a safe and stable food supply is paramount. Food and agriculture comprise a systems-based infrastructure that contains a complex network of individual farms, factories and processes, which the world relies upon as a reliable source of food. Ongoing food security and defense concerns in a dynamic and complex environment require an interdisciplinary workforce trained to face challenges with confidence and creativity. 

Project guidelines include mapping the supply chain of at least two ingredients or a single multi-ingredient food product, creating a dynamic visualization of those supply chains using a range of eligible platforms, submitting a short demo video of the tool and opening the tool for testing.

Teams must be composed of three to five students from at least three different programs of study or disciplines. Undergraduate or graduate levels only.

All teams will be judged by an interdisciplinary, expert panel. The winning team will receive $5,000, the second-place team will receive $3,000, and the third-place team will receive $1,000.

For more information and registration, visit https://foodprotection.umn.edu/2017-fpdi-student-competition.