COURSE NUMBER: MBA 292N.3
COURSE TITLE: Food Innovation Studio
UNITS OF CREDIT: 2 units
INSTRUCTOR: William Rosenzweig
E-MAIL ADDRESS: wbrose@berkeley.edu
PREREQUISITE(S): By application and consent of instructor and
teaching team
CAREER FIELD: Food industry leadership, innovation and
entrepreneurship
DETAILED ABSTRACT OF COURSE:
‘If you have dreamed
of turning an idea into a food business, this course will enable you to learn
and practice the entrepreneurial skillsets, mindsets and toolsets needed to
conceptualize, formulate and launch a new food venture or develop a meaningful
food innovation for market. The course addresses a broad spectrum of food
industry specializations including brands, products, food-service, agriculture,
food-tech and provides the context, safe container and network needed to
incubate and accelerate successful new and early-stage food-system ventures.’
The Food Innovation Studio is a two-unit accelerator practice-based course
focused on enabling graduate business school students (and related graduate
students and professionals in disciplines including food science, engineering,
public health, environmental studies, law, and computer science) to identify
and define pressing challenges and unmet needs in the broader food-system and
develop market-based, entrepreneurial ventures to solve them.
The course supports teams of learners to develop essential skill sets, mindsets
and toolsets for successful entrepreneurial leadership in the food industry.
The disciplines of human-centered design, lean-launch, rapid prototyping,
business model development, venture formation and venture pitch-presentation
are blended into a rapid paced and accelerated experiential learning program
over 10 weeks. Industry experts in food safety, transparency, sustainable and
just supply chains, food venture formation, IP law, and financing will
participate in the course. The Food Innovation Studio will feature the personal
involvement of accomplished entrepreneurs, mentors and sector experts who will
enhance the students’ experience and opportunity for success in the
marketplace.
Students choose an opportunity/unmet need that is relevant to their own
interests and expertise and form or join a team to which they can contribute.
Diversity of background and education/technical/professional experience is
encouraged. In addition to student-led project submissions, there will be
external organizations pitching to lead FIS projects. Members of the FIS course
go on to participate in other Berkeley events such as
the GSVC, Dean’s Seed Fund, Sky Deck and Launch. There are newly created seed
funds created to support food-focused ventures at UC Berkeley.
Learning objectives and key
activities:
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CLASS FORMAT:
“Flipped Classroom” where student teams present
their weekly progress to fellow students and guest experts who provide rigorous
feedback. In-class presentations are complemented with guest speakers,
field trips and feedback from relevant mentors and industry experts. Students
will have an opportunity to test and participate in an online mentor platform
that will connect them to domain experts. At the final class meeting, teams
will present to a panel of professional experts and investors to receive feedback
on the viability and potential for their venture.
The overall goal of the course is
to advance an idea through a cycle of exploration, discovery, design and launch
preparation in a single semester. We will customize the course content to
support the specific interests of the students and the needs of the projects
that have been selected for pursuit.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
The course is led by William Rosenzweig,
Social Impact Fellow at Berkeley Haas. Will is an accomplished entrepreneur,
investor and educator who has been a faculty member of Berkeley Haas and London
Business School. Will was the first program director for the Center for
Responsible Business at UC Berkeley in 1999 and has served as a faculty advisor
for the Global Social Venture Competition for fifteen years. Notable
ventures that were developed in his courses include Revolution Foods,
Indiegogo, GoodGuide and World of Good. From
2002-2004 Will worked on the original impact investing initiative at the
Rockefeller Foundation and co-authored the first papers on Social Impact
Assessment. For the past 15 years, he has managed a series of venture capital
funds focused on health and sustainability, the most recent being Physic
Ventures, a $160M fund focused on investing in keeping people healthy. In 2010,
Will received the Oslo Business for Peace Award recognizing his leadership in
the field of Responsible Business. In 2016 Bon Appetit
magazine named him one of seven people shaping the future of the food
industry.