The matching session will allow the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) from the ITE College, Polytechnics and Universities to share their focus areas and research capabilities with the food manufacturers. At the end of the matching session, food manufacturers and IHLs will form teams for the Food Innovation Product Award 2018.

Who should attend?

Food manufacturers and IHLs who have not form their teams during the registration phase.

The first workshop of the series will be conducted by Nielsen and the Health Promotion Board to allow participating teams to gain insights on the latest consumer trends, novel food ingredients, and possible market opportunities for business growth.

The second workshop of the series will be conducted by User Experience Centre (UXC) to enable participating teams to apply the design thinking process and methodology to analyse broad macro trends, select key trends relevant to your business and demographics. Teams will also create an imagined user journey based on their references and experiences, and allowing you to further identify and highlight pain points and opportunity areas for innovation.

The third workshop of the series will be conducted by User Experience Centre (UXC) to allow teams to prioritise from the pool of ideas that have been conceptualised through the imagined user journey (from the earlier workshop) before developing a low fidelity prototype on the selected ideas. Teams will also develop an ideal user journey to ensure that the prototype is in line with the user needs along the various touchpoints and interactions.

The fourth workshop of the series will be conducted by the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and IPI Singapore. Teams will learn about the lean productivity improvement methodology to enhance productivity and business processes for product commercialisation. Through the simulation game, teams will learn to map the value stream of processes in order to identify and eliminate wastes, and use it to increase productivity in food manufacturing. Participants will also learn more about the latest technologies for low-GI food staples, automation, freshness sensors, smart labels, bio-degradable packaging and biotransformation technologies for zero waste manufacturing.

The sixth workshop of the series will be conducted by the Food Innovation Resource Centre (FIRC) to allow teams to understand the packaging innovation and application for the prototype developed. This includes looking at packaging for functionality beyond containment for better protection, communication and convenience. Packaging is also an important process for product differentiation in the market to gain consumers’ attention.