Food innovators to explore opportunities for red meat
19 February 2018
MLA Donor Company (MDC) will partner with food and agriculture accelerator Rocket Seeder to deliver a series of activities throughout 2018, designed to encourage food innovators to explore opportunities utilising red meat.
The activities, offered free of charge to participants, include ‘design sprint’ workshops, a ‘design challenge’ and a 14-week startup accelerator program, which also offers mentoring, co-working and additional support and services.
Applications are now open for the one-day ‘design sprint’ workshops being held in Melbourne and regional Victoria. These involve guided group activities such as idea generation, prototyping and pitching. They will focus on four key themes for the Australian red meat industry: personalised nutrition, snacking-on-the-go, healthy ageing and sustainable food consumption and packaging.
The workshops will be followed by a 6-week design challenge in May and June which will enable participants to further explore the key themes and prepare them for a 14-week startup accelerator program running in the second half of 2018.
“Changing consumer trends and lifestyle choices represent new high value growth opportunities for the Australian red meat industry. With global demand for protein increasing, and red meat being an important part of the Australian diet, the opportunity for novel, meat-based food products to capture a share of the market is strong,” said Michael Lee, MDC’s High Value Food Frontiers Program Manager.
“This collaboration with Rocket Seeder broadens our existing network of AgTech, FoodTech and food innovation partners. It will further help attract new entrepreneurs and startups to create commercially viable solutions that are sustainable in the long-term.”
The program follows on from Rocket Seeder’s successful 2017 startup accelerator program, which saw 11 startups graduate, including four food product ideas, three agricultural waste product re-use ideas, three food service ideas and one food trading platform idea.
Rocket Seeder Managing Director, Jeffrey Bourne, says that the program was specifically designed to provide an integrated suite of activities to connect and drive innovation and entrepreneurship for the Australian red meat industry.
“Rocket Seeder’s experience helping food entrepreneurs bring new products and services to market quickly, combined with MDC’s intimate knowledge of the red meat industry, means we have been able to tailor the program to maximise the benefits for the sector.”
The one-day design sprint workshops will be held mid-April in Melbourne, Warragul and Ballarat, with places strictly limited.
