Smart Protein Challenge 2020:
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About the challenge: The India Smart Protein Challenge 2020, an initiative by GFI India was the world’s first Smart Protein Innovation Challenge aimed at driving innovation and boosting entrepreneurial spirit among the participants who got an opportunity to upskill themselves and apply their learnings to develop solutions for the plant-based alternatives industry.
Participant perspective
I came across the Smart Protein Challenge poster on LinkedIn and my first thought was “finally a competition where I could apply core subject skills”. The theme of the challenge was to develop a product or process pertaining to the plant-based meat/seafood/dairy sector and as a biotechnology student, this was exactly the type of competition I was looking for.
The Smart Protein Challenge was structured to have various phases and participants had to meet the criteria of qualification to enter in the subsequent phases of the challenge.
Phase-1 of the challenge required the participants to go through various resources which were provided to us via the digital lab and at the end of every week, we had to take a graded quiz on the basis of which we were evaluated. Phase-1 helped us to equip ourselves with the required knowledge and understanding of this sector and made us ready for the next phase.
For subsequent phases of the challenge, participants had to form teams and work towards conceptualizing and developing a solution for the sub-category of plant-based alternatives which the team had chosen. Throughout phase-2 we were guided via several webinars where keynote speakers elaborated about the techno-commercial aspects of product development in this sector and the teams which qualified for phase-3 got a chance to further work on their ideas and some were even able to develop prototypes.
All in all, the Smart Protein Challenge not only introduced us to the world of plant-based alternatives but through the webinars and resources provided to us, the challenge also gave us a roadmap to further navigate the intricacies and identify unexplored opportunities this sector has to offer!
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- Rahul Sharan, VIT Vellore
Participant, Smart Protein Challenge - 2020
I came to know about this from Rahul and it immediately dragged my attention because this was something new to me. I had heard about Plant-Based Meat but not about Plant-Based seafood or Plant-Based Dairy Products. This challenge had three phases and the first phase, where one was required to go through various documents and videos on plant-based products, really helped me in clearing my doubts on the topic.
Another interesting thing about the Challenge was phase 2 where we had to make a team of three members so it broadened our network. Participants from different backgrounds like food technology, management, came together in developing their product that I feel is just the way a start-up works. There were many webinars arranged for us to help us in phase 2.
Smart Protein Challenge not only involved brainstorming about developing a prototype for a new plant-based food but also gave us an insight into the current market and future scope of the products. We studied the existing companies in this field and the challenges faced by them, about the upcoming companies, and taking everything into account, we were able to come up with our own Plant Based Prawns! We had developed the idea on how to make the product and also on how to launch it into the market so that it gets accepted by a good number of customers.
I really enjoyed working on this challenge as I got to know about a topic that is trending globally. The resources provided to us were very helpful in identifying the current challenges and it helped me realize that there are even more opportunities, waiting for Plant-Based Food in the future.
- Srestha Mitra, VIT Vellore
Participant, Smart Protein Challenge - 2020
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GFI India have also created a talent database through which they connect recruiters and job aspirants willing to make a career in the smart protein sector. Be sure to join the GFI India talent database by accessing this link.
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