Currently there are 10 teams
signed up for the challenge, with a total of 35 entrepreneurs and student
entrepreneurs. According to Convener and Chair Bill Seretta, “When folks in
Greater Portland hear about the Maine Food System Innovation Challenge, they
might say ‘We don’t need any more restaurants.’ This isn’t about restaurants.
Our food system is one of the most complex things in our society. Everything
from water to waste to technology. Almost everything involved in producing food
has a technology dimension to it. We need diversified, local, sustainable
agriculture, instead of industrial agriculture that’s producing food that’s not
very good.”
"Hosting the Challenge is exactly the type of activity
the Institute for Local Food Systems Innovation is here to do. The Institute is
a place where entrepreneurs from all sectors can come together to challenge
each other, collaborate, and share resources to develop new innovations in the
local food industry," said Peter Nielsen, Entrepreneur-in-Residence and
Saint Joseph's College. "We welcome the community and the food and
beverage industry to utilize the Institute as a resource for transforming the
local food economy."
In its third year, this event showcases two competitive categories–a College Track and an Enterprise Track–and encourages competing teams to produce bold solutions to some of the challenges Maine faces in its food production systems. Five Saint Joseph’s College students comprise one of the teams in the competition.
Beginning Sunday at 11:00 AM, the public is welcome to watch
teams pitch their food system innovation proposals to a panel of judges. The
public is also welcome to attend the award ceremony, beginning at 2:30 PM at
the College’s Stone Barn at Sebago Lake, where teams will be rewarded with cash
awards and professional services intended to support development of and
launching of their food systems innovation prototype or enterprise.
According to Convener and Co-Chair Bill Seretta,
participants from past years-including Fork Food Lab in Portland, Finklepod
Farm in Arundel, and New Beet Market in Brunswick-have launched and piloted
innovations that were explored and refined during this event.
Having hosted the first two challenges at Bowdoin College,
this is the first year that Saint Joseph’s College will serve as the host.
“What’s interesting is that you now have the Institute for Local Food Systems
Innovation (ILFSI) at Saint Joseph’s College. The timing couldn’t be any better
for the challenge and ILFSI in that they have come on board at almost the same
time. They support each other. It’s perfect timing,” said Seretta.
Teams in the Competition
The college and enterprise teams will have access to experts who will counsel them on legal, business operations, marketing, and financial matters during work sessions throughout the day on Saturday. A panel of judges will consider several categories in scoring the innovative proposals, everything from the clarity of their value proposition to the environmental and financial sustainability of the project
The college and enterprise teams will have access to experts who will counsel them on legal, business operations, marketing, and financial matters during work sessions throughout the day on Saturday. A panel of judges will consider several categories in scoring the innovative proposals, everything from the clarity of their value proposition to the environmental and financial sustainability of the project
Five college teams–including Bates College, Bowdoin College,
Colby College, Harvard College, and Saint Joseph’s College–will address the
challenge: How might we create products, services, apps or organizations
that support the expansion of production, distribution, processing and
consumption of local, sustainably produced food and seafood?
Saint Joseph’s College will be represented by a team
comprised of: Journee Levasseur ’18 (Mechanic Falls, ME), Brandon Smith ’18
(South Casco, ME), Caleb Gravel ’19 (Rochester, NH), Kimberly Dodd ’18
(Windham, ME), and Nick Guidi ’20 (Windham, ME).
Five Enterprise teams will compete, including: Circle B
Farms of Caribou, ME, FarmDrop of Blue Hill, ME, Morning Dew Farm of Newcastle,
ME, Villager Cooperative of Portland, ME, and Resurgam Hot Sauce of Portland
ME. They will address the challenge: How might we create new models of
aggregation, distribution and creative processing (that extends the shelf life
of a product) that adapt to local and regional needs, utilize technology
(high-tech and low-tech) and are sustainable (both financially and ecologically)
while offering the following: 1) a fair return to the farmer or fisherman; 2)
at a fair price to the buyer; and 3) while minimizing their carbon footprint.
Livestream
Saint Joseph’s College will make the team competitions
available via livestream at:
Enterprise Track: https://livestream.com/SJC/MFSIEnterpriseTrack2017
College Track: https://livestream.com/SJC/MFSICollegeTrack2017
About Maine Food System Innovation Challenge
For more information about the Maine Food System Innovation
Challenge, see http://maineinnovationchallenge.org/
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