Food is the global language, a primary commodity and an expression of cultural existence with no boundaries and unites all people, industries and countries. The human experience is deeply rooted in food – in the cycle of human activity that includes food production, distribution, manufacturing, shopping and of course eating. This cycle shapes our daily lives at work and at home, in politics and in play, in our bodies and in our imaginations.

Over the last few decades, our planet’s complex food system has developed several core strategies for optimizing this cycle of food experienced. Production aims for intensification. Distribution requires efficiency. Manufacturing is at its best when it can be standardized. Shopping centralizes food in a common marketplace.
And when it comes to eating, convenience and affordability still avail over all else. These strategies have been well honed by generations of people engaged in the experience of food. Today however, these strategies are encountering their limits and the dynamics of our global food system have become increasingly complex and dangerously unsustainable. Technological innovations
are poised to take us beyond those limits, to transform the way we experience food in all our encounters with it.

There are many urgent issues that we face in creating a more resilient, delicious, sustainable and equitable future of food as well as understanding technology’s role in closing the gaps in the food system. These issues can only be addressed through the continuous process of innovation under the guide of our future food industry leaders.

The Food Innovation Program provides the integrated breeding ground for future food leaders to engage in positive discussion and create viable solutions for better food and a better future.

The Food Innovation Program is a 12-month full time Master’s Program that offers aspiring food innovators and entrepreneurs an invaluable experience in enhancing their professional goals and personal growth, a program that spans across the fields of food, innovation and entrepreneurship in order to meet requirements of the modern and future course of the food industry.
It aims to identify the critical technologies for shaping agriculture, food distribution, retail and consumption while taking into consideration food safety, social relationships and regulations. In addition, the program aims to expand and develop radical innovations outlined in the Institute for the Future (IFTF) forecast map, Seeds of Disruption: How Technology is Remaking the Future of Food. The Program is one of the few programs of its kind that is inspired by the Reggio Approach teaching methodology that acknowledges and cultivates creativity and interest in learning.

The Food Innovation Program provides an enriching environment that successfully combines two renowned worlds of forward thinking approaches – Design Thinking and Foresight – fueled by a well integrated, multidisciplinary and technically advanced faculty.
Design Thinking is the Stanford Design Innovation Process that has fueled much of the entrepreneurial culture in Silicon Valley. At the heart of the process is the notion that in order to innovate, one must understand the needs of the user and the context surrounding the design. It is a hot topic in the fields of business, product design and applied research.

The University of Modena and Reggio Emilia’s Engineering Department is the only accredited node of the Stanford Global Alliance for Redesign (SUGAR) network in Italy.