Multi-annual Programme Food & Sustainability

Timeframe

Active involvement January 2020 to 2024
Programme period January 2020 to present

Role

Co-initiator, programme designer, strategic (network) facilitator, and trainer and supervisor of innovation coaches

Purpose

The programme focuses on preparing young people for complex issues in the food and sustainability sector.
Innovative learn and developing methods such as challenges, hybrid learning, workplace learning, regional learning and hackathons integrate social current affairs directly into education. The aim is to bring young people into learning environments that inspire them, make them curious, and give them the necessary competences for creating innovative solutions for green transitions in a practical way, in close cooperation with regional companies and governments.

Tasks and Responsibilities

As a co-initiator, I played a key role in the annual programme. For instance, I unravelled regional interests, mapped regional stakeholders and researched dependencies and perceptions. This led to a programme where young people discover their interests through real-life learning and work on first-, second- and third-order competences. The FIA now provides a platform where education, entrepreneurs and governments work together on sustainability issues, resulting in a dynamic learning environment and innovative solutions for the food sector. We have taught the organisations involved, especially within education, to build relationships independently in the region. They do this through a pragmatic approach with hackathons and challenges, which are then followed up by traineeships and/or follow-up cases implemented in the vocational education curriculum. We have also trained education professionals to guide innovation teams and coach students according to the methodologies of design thinking, lean-start-up product and service development and agile collaboration.

Specific activities that were necessary
- Concept development and programme design
- Advising on collaborations between educational institutions, regional companies and governments, including municipalities and MRDH
- Organising and supervising educational programming such as challenge-based learning, hackathons and workplace learning
- Evaluation and improvement of programme design, teaching methods and learning outcomes of stakeholders
- Mentoring of professionals and support for their professional development
- Promotion and acquisition of new partners and participants in the initiation phase and consultancy in the scale-up phase
- Financial management, Reporting and accountability to stakeholders

Core values in Practice

- Designing and organising inclusive learning activities, thereby creating equal opportunities for all young people regardless of background and interests.
- Addressing innovative and complex issues, such as sustainable food solutions.
- Respecting expertise of all parties and using it to strengthen cooperation between education, business and government. Transparent communication and clear expectations create a fair and open working environment.
- Providing a platform where the successes of young people and their solutions are celebrated and appreciated, with outcomes that have reduced the gap between young and old, education and business. The effect is that more consistency in cooperation between regional companies and institutions has been built and a basis for loyalty has been established.

The intended effect has been achieved that Young people are encouraged to take initiative and responsibility for their own learning.

Impact and Results

- Competence Development: Young people have developed essential skills for the labour market and to come up with innovative solutions for sustainability.
- Sustainable Innovations: Concrete solutions and prototypes have been developed that contribute to green transitions in the food sector.
- Regional Cooperation: Strong networks between education and business have been created, leading to sustainable regional development.
- Social Impact: The programme has contributed to increased awareness and action on sustainability issues within the community.

The Food Innovation Academy (FIA) in Vlaardingen has become a knowledge and innovation centre for the food industry, located in the Rotterdam The Hague Metropolitan Region (MRDH). FIA's aim is to stimulate and implement innovations in the region through cooperation between educational institutions, companies and government bodies. This is in line with the MRDH's broader strategic goals, as set out in the Regional Investment Programme and the South Holland Delta Region Deal.
Through initiatives such as the Sustainability Hackathon, organised in collaboration with partners such as DOON, MRDH, and Rabobank, the link is made between theoretical education and practical applications in industry. This ensures that young people not only gain relevant knowledge and skills, but also contribute to the development of innovative and sustainable solutions that are directly applicable in the region. FIA thus fulfils a crucial role in connecting education, business and societal challenges, contributing to the sustainable economic development of South Holland.

Positioning in the Regional Campus Network
Within Zuid-Holland's regional campus network, FIA actively cooperates with various educational institutions, governments and businesses to create an integrated learning and innovation landscape. This network aims to close the gap between education and the labour market and drive innovation by facilitating projects that match regional needs and economic priorities. The aim is to achieve sustainable regional cooperation, where students and professionals are better prepared for their future careers and lifelong development. In the process, companies benefit from fresh, innovative ideas.

Learning moments from Engaged Partners

- Personal Growth: Participants gained insight into their own capabilities and the value of working together.
- Professional Development: Partners learned how to collaborate effectively with educational institutions and young people, which strengthened their own capacity for innovation.
- Innovative Learning and Developing Methods: Educational institutions gained valuable experience with hybrid learning and other innovative teaching methods.

The embedding of the programme in the vocational education curriculum has taken place, training teachers from both first and second vocational education (vmbo, mbo and hbo). The regional teacher training college SCOOL is now also using our approach. Two hackathons are organised annually to kick-off various sustainibility and societal themes and sub-themes. The outcomes are further taken up multidisciplinary in vocational education in collaboration with entrepreneurs. From 2024 on forward the ambition is to further roll out the approach to the entire region of the FoodCluster Rotterdam-Rijnmond region, within the High Impact Public Private Partnerschip.

Skills involved

- Programme and projectmanagement
- Educational design
- Strategic network management
- Interdisciplinary Innovative thinking
- Problem-solving skills
- Mentoring and coaching
- Communication skills

References

Food Innovation Academy: https://foodinnovationacademy.nl/

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