ABOUT US
- ECOTROPHELIA - A STUDENTS COMPETITION FOR CREATING INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS
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ECOTROPHELIA has the ambition to promote entrepreneurship and competitiveness within the European food industry by implementing a training network of excellence in food innovation and the organization of national and European food innovation competitions "The Student Awards of Food Innovation” a real eye-opener for the food industry. ECOTROPHELIA is a great platform for innovation and inspiration for the food industry. It allows capitalizing on the limitless creativity and energy of our brightest and most enterprising students, supported by the best Universities and High Education Institutes.
The competition is a major catalyst:
• offering students full-scale learning and training, by confronting them with real situations,the rules and laws of an uncompromising market in a state of perpetual evolution.
• developing a culture of curriculum innovation, by making changes to teaching methods, particularly through project-based learning, in direct contact with professionals in the sector.
ECOTROPHELIA is a “real ideas” incubator for the food industry, it is an age-group marker on the consumption trends of the millennial generation.
- HISTORY
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Established in France in 2000, ECOTROPHELIA expanded to a European scale in 2008, ECOTROPHELIA Europe is organized by the European Technology Platform "Food for Life", ANIA (National Association of Food Industries) and CCI Vaucluse. On the principle of a food innovation “Champions League” each European country organizes its own national competition to select the most innovative food project that will then be presented at ECOTROPHELIA Europe. Each country selection is coordinated by its national food federation. The teams are composed of 2 to 10 students from either public or private higher education European establishments, scientific or commercial.Key-dates of the competition:
2008 - First ECOTROPHELIA Europe session with 8 food federations (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Spain)
2011 - The European Commission recognized the exemplary nature of TROPHELIA and gave the go-ahead to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Vaucluse to implement a European project for the promotion of eco-innovation in the food industry sector: ECOTROFOOD. The competition TROPHELIA then became ECOTROPHELIA
2014 - ECOTROPHELIA inspired the creation of FOODLAB, a European Laboratory of food innovations to encourage entrepreneurship in higher education and promote student entrepreneurship, supported by the European Union in the context of the ERASMUS programme.
2015 - ECOTROPHELIA Europe 2015 took place at the Universal Exhibition Milan 2015 whose theme was "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life".Based on a Champion's League of food innovation, 16 European countries participate in ECOTROPHELIA Europe 2015 in the European Commission Pavilion.
2019 - ECOTROPHELIA promoted the development of a Strategic Partnership project in the scope of the ERASMUS+ program - FEEDtheMIND, which brings together 7 partners from 5 European countries to work on new pedagogical methods on knowledge and skills acquisition.
Beyond the competitions, ECOTROPHELIA has become a network of training excellence in food innovation that mobilises higher education institutions and national federations of food industries in Europe. Thus, the ECOTROPHELIA network, a reference educational model supported by the European Union, plays an organisational role in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship among students.
