A celebration of innovation and diversity at GROW2019

A meeting place for education and the labor market in the agro & food sector

Limburg's top students presented their innovative agro & food product and concept ideas to potential employers and other interested parties during the first edition of GROW on Thursday, May 23. The event took place at Villa Flora on Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo.

Some 100 students from the agro & food sector were present to present their concepts and ideas. In total there were forty projects. The presentation was done in a market setting, so that the 500 visitors had ample opportunity to talk to the students, but also with each other.

The presentation was done in a market setting, so that the students had ample opportunity to talk to the students, but also with each other.

Great diversity

The projects could be divided into two groups: student initiatives and food concepts. From disease recognition of crops by drones to research on the image of farmers among citizens, from an oat-based drink to the stimulation of regional products in chef training, from short chain research to mushroom bread; the sector certainly does not lack diversity.
There were even several international projects to admire. For example, a pilot farm in Azerbaijan was presented, agricultural businesses in Almería and the Netherlands were compared, and an educational nutrition concept had been developed to inform pregnant women in Congo about the use of iron during pregnancy.

Winning Projects

The students were not only given the opportunity to share their projects and ideas with the industry. The best product and concept ideas also received a prize. The winning ideas were chosen by an advisory board consisting of entrepreneurs, top innovators and product buyers in food service and retail from the southern part of the Netherlands. The students with the best idea will soon be allowed to accompany a top entrepreneur from the agro & food sector for a day. The winning ideas were:

• Oat It: a vegetable curd based on oats that is a good alternative for animal and soy curd.
• LocalHiero's: a short chain concept based on telling the story of the farmer to create more support.
• True Pricing: researching the interests, preconditions and willingness in corporate catering procurement policies for adopting True Price.
• Kipster rooster snacks: setting up a Kipster rooster meat snack line at Kwalitaria to minimize waste.

In addition, a public award was presented to the best food concept presented during GROW. The winning idea, chosen by the visitors through a vote, will be sold at Villa Flora's restaurant for a few weeks. The winner of the public prize was Oat It, the vegetable quark that had also received a prize earlier that day.

Meeting Place

GROW is an initiative of the province of Limburg, LIOF, the LLTB and Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo together with HAS University of Applied Sciences, Fontys, Citaverde College, Maastricht University and Zuyd University of Applied Sciences. With the event, the parties wanted to stimulate the meeting between students and entrepreneurs, between education and the labor market. GROW will be an annual event; the first edition of the event took place on May 23.

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