Challenges and opportunities in food engineering: Modeling, virtualization, open innovation and social responsibility

I. Sam Saguy*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

74 Scopus citations

Abstract

Food engineering should shed its historical mindset, embrace new challenges and opportunities that the 21st century holds. Unabated scientific progress and breakthroughs highlight mounting challenges with some vital paradigm shifts. Four main challenges have been identified: modeling, virtualization, open innovation (OI) and social responsibility (SR). The shift from empirical to physics-based food modeling is paramount to benefit from new sensor technology, proliferation of the 'Internet of Things', and big-data information. An overriding part of modeling continues to be food uniqueness and complexity, consumer needs and expectations, health and wellness, sustainability and SR. Virtualization is to significantly benefit from expanding computational power, dedicated software, cloud computing, big data, and other breakthroughs. Collaboration and partnerships with all innovation ecosystem stakeholders are paramount. Academia's role as a 'startup university' requires revising its intellectual property models, curricula rejuvenating, OI, creativity, employability and SR. Food engineers are at a verge of a very prosperous future.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2-8
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Food Engineering
Volume176
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 May 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords

  • Enginomics
  • Four-helix
  • Open innovation
  • Social responsibility
  • Startup university
  • Virtualization

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Challenges and opportunities in food engineering: Modeling, virtualization, open innovation and social responsibility'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this