NOYNOY IDEA CHALLENGE- A Competition striving for Ιnnovation
SUBMITTED FROM:
FrieslandCampina Hellas
FrieslandCampina Hellas is a member of Royal FrieslandCampina, one of the largest dairy cooperatives in the world with a deep tradition of almost 150 years. Royal FrieslandCampina is fully committed to providing high quality dairy products that help millions of consumers every day to follow nutritional standards that contribute to the maintenance of good health of the human body. With a turnover of €11.3 billion, it is one of the world's largest dairy companies with 17,413 farmer members, 23,816 employees, offices in 36 countries and exports to more than 100 countries.
The aim of the competition is to reward innovative ideas in the dairy sector that are related to improving the efficiency in the dairy value chain. The strategic pillars of interest are integrating the environmental impact in the design of products and services, increasing the use of new technologies, adopting good practices and standards, while focusing on the circular economy and sustainability.
Target Audience
The beneficiaries of the "NOYNOY Idea Challenge" Competition are as follows:
• Students and young graduates of higher education
• Young researchers, PhD candidates, PhDs with potentially commercially applied research results
• Groups of researchers who have creative ideas applicable to sustainable production processes or products
• Other members of the academic and research community.
Duration
The Competition was initially organized in 2018 and concluded in February 2019 with the award ceremony. The 2nd Sustainability Competition, which is currently on-going, has been announced in 2020 and will conclude in 2021. Objective is that this competition to become an” innovation institution” for the sector.
Description
The "NOYNOY Idea Challenge" Competition of FrieslandCampina Hellas attempts to capture innovation and dynamics of research teams relative to the dairy industry in Greece and enhance relative sustainability studies. The project's processes explores the application method and the transferring of potential application of research findings to the market, with the ultimate aim of identifying successful case studies in the food industry, with concrete and measurable results.
The aim of the "NOYNOY Idea Challenge" competition is in addition to identifying innovative ideas to strengthen the bridge between the domestic industry and the education community. As such it addresses the entire community and especially young scientists. In the 1st Competition (2018) 21 ideas were submitted, with the participation of 5 university institutions throughout the country and more than 45 participating researchers (University, students and research groups).
The awards given were:
1)Grand Prize award worth €2000
2)Pilot implementation on the premises of FrieslandCampina Hellas-NOYNOY.
3)Inclusion in the incubator of the National Technical University of Athens.
4)Paid six-month internship at FrieslandCampina Hellas.
5)Pilot application at FrieslandCampina’s Hellas Plant in Patras.
6)Educational visit to the Innovation Centre of FrieslandCampina in Wageningen.
7)Business induction in the development and launch of a new product by FrieslandCampina Hellas-NOYNOY.
More about the awards of the 1st NOYNOY Idea Challenge, as well as the journalistic coverage can be found here.
In the 2nd Competition, "NOYNOY Idea Challenge-Sustainability" that is currently in progress, more than 30 proposals have been submitted involving more than 100 scientists, who claim the following prizes:
1)Advisory support from FrieslandCampina Hellas-NOYNOY.
2) Use of FrieslandCampina Hellas facilities.
3) Grant- Prize award worth €2000 to use for the business development of the idea
4) Personalized support and guidance (Business Coaching) from the incubator OF EMP.
The announcement of the 2nd Competition was published in more than 60 media.
Initiative Location
The implementation of the process and awards took place at the facilities of FrieslandCampina Hellas-NOYNOY in Maroussi, the NOYNOY Plant in Patras and the Distribution Center located in Aspropyrgos.
The "NOYNOY Idea Challenge" Competition on Innovation is organized by FrieslandCampina Hellas in collaboration with the National Technical University of Athens, through the support of innovative business schemes of the Laboratory of Industrial and Energy Economics, as well as the Incubator EPI.noo incubator of the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS) of NTUA, which specializes in supporting researchers and students in the registration and commercial usage of research findings. Finally, the project is managed by Break-Evening Consulting, a company whose purpose is to “transfer” technology know-how.
Employees of company participated in the committees as evaluators of the proposals, as well as in the preparation of the special workshops and events of the program.
FrieslandCampina Hellas acknowledges the need by society to bridge and to connect the academic community with the industry and enables young scientists to develop and to implement their idea in the dairy sector.
