at #mfr2020 Future Food Institute and EIT Food gave us the opportunity to “travel” around Europe thanks to the “Makeathons” and their protagonists. And this is only the beginning!
“MAKEit is about creating huge numbers of innovations, speedy projects for transformation. By including the Makers’ culture, MAKEit wanted to improve the entire chain starting from continuous prototyping“. With these words, Shima Barakat, Director of the Entrepreneurship for Sustainability Program at the University of Cambridge, introduced one of the most interesting and truly maker-oriented projects that accompanied this special edition of the largest Show & Tell in Europe. Everything happened in a virtual booth and in an event that Future Food Institute organized for its return to Maker Faire Rome this year!
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Disover MAKEit, the sustainable initiative!
What is MAKEit? An initiative born with the support of EIT Food as a pan-European partnership to create increasingly efficient, sustainable, and competitive agri-food chains, trying to provide targeted and innovative solutions by connecting all the players in the sector in a single network of collaborators and innovators.
In the context of this initiative, the MAKEathons were held. These co-creation marathons, born in 2019 and aimed at creating tangible solutions with a strong entrepreneurial impact, which over the past two years have been organized in nine European countries (Ireland, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Iceland, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, and Finland) and from which 73 innovation prototypes have emerged from many different sectors of international food: from sugar to cocoa to fruit, vegetables, and meat!
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Would you like to travel around Europe? Join the MAKEathons!
Some of these projects were presented to both event and booth visitors as they went on a virtual journey through the countries of Europe exploring sustainability, nutrition, and the food of the future. Some examples?
- All in a nutshell that offers biodegradable boxes with ethylene and temperature controlled environments for local farmers and small businesses facing problems with:
- reducing plastic
- prolonging shelf life and freshness of their products
- finding new channels for fruit and vegetable deliveries to customers
- Entrebollos, a bio-based polymer produced by bacterial fermentation that stands as a new eco-sustainable packaging model.
- Otoseeds, a paper born from the waste materials of the fishing industry that is completely biodegradable and that allows the creation of objects such as business cards, coffee bags, brochures for events, gift and greeting cards, ecological cosmetics, slow fashion product labels, and much more yet!
- Sugar Cap, a drink cup (designed specifically for tea and coffee) which, through a slow-release mechanism in the drink, allows you to reduce the consumption of sugar without complications, enjoy your drink longer and consume fewer calories without feeling like you have had less.
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The next MAKEathon? It’s up to you!
When will the next projects and the next MAKEathons take place? It’s up to you! Thanks to the MAKEit Toolkit, presented by Future Food Institute and EIT Food at Maker Faire Rome, from 1 January 2021 available on the official website of the initiative, this toolkit can be used to organize a new marathon, perhaps in Italy! What is the Toolkit made of?
- An A to Z guide to create a MAKEathon
- Models, tools, and canvases to be used within a MAKEathon
- Tips and case studies from past MAKEathons
For more information and updates on the initiative you can also follow this website.
With a Maker spirit, anyone can come up with a disruption to a product or supply chain. Don’t forget the mantra of Future Food Institute: innovation is a cooperative effort! Stay tuned!
Maker Faire Rome – The European Edition has been committed since eight editions to make innovation accessible and usable to all, with the aim of not leaving anyone behind. Its blog is always updated and full of opportunities and inspiration for makers, makers, startups, SMEs and all the curious ones who wish to enrich their knowledge and expand their business, in Italy and abroad.
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