Innovation Competition for Food and Beverages

Where: Innovation Flow Lounge, in the center of hall B1
When: September 14, 2017, 14:30–16:30

The Innovation Competition for Food and Beverages is a project that has been held at the Technical University of Munich in Weihenstephan since 2012 in which students develop products on their own.

The competitors’ task is clear: To make your #own thing! Participating students are instructed to conduct their own product development and create a new and innovative beverage in one of three categories, i.e. beer, mixed-beer drink or non-alcoholic drink. The fact that marketable products can also be created is demonstrated by five start-ups that emerged in the course of the competition.

During a one-year process, teams of students develop their own beverage including all aspects of the value chain. It starts with a creativity phase and the compilation of an initial concept with regard to taste, sales and target group. In a “preliminary tasting round,” the concepts are reviewed and evaluated by a panel of 50 judges and a preliminary prototype is subjected to sensory analysis. The most promising product ideas are invited to participate in a final round.

This phase is characterized by intense coaching of the teams. The students are supervised by experts from science and industry. The purpose of that support is to ensure that their products are finalized as professionally as possible. The program includes seminars and workshops on topics such as “Sales,” “Marketing and Communication,” “Raw Materials and Manufacturing” and even “Legal Issues and Brand Law.” The competition emphasizes practice-oriented support and teaching participants to independently implement their own ideas. At the end of the project, there is another tasting and evaluation of the products in which the winners are determined in each of the three categories.

The Innovation Competition for Food and Beverages at drinktec

Within the scope of drinktec, the competition presents itself to interested visitors in various ways. In addition to its own area as part of the TU Munich exhibition stand in Hall B2-514, the competition, its various phases as well as its winners and start-ups will also be presented at the Innovation Flow Lounge. Matthias Ebner, the man responsible for organizing the competition, will serve as moderator. The winners of the fourth edition of the competition will present their concepts to the audience personally and make their products available for tasting afterward.

Additional information is available here (only in German).

Organizer

Technical University of Munich, Faculty of Brewing and Food Technology