Startup Aggieland teams with The University of Texas to promote first food challenge competition

Startup Aggieland has entered into a partnership with The University of Texas and The Borlaug Institute in a business start-up competition: The Food Lab Challenge, which encourages innovation in the global food system.

In the competition’s inaugural year at the University of Texas at Austin, the competition will award $30,000 in prizes to teams producing a product or service impacting one of four food-related categories:

• Inputs and Production
• Processing, Packaging and Safety
• Storage and Distribution
• Healthy Eating and Food Education

The business competition is open to anyone, anywhere, from undergraduate students to established entrepreneurs. It has attracted more than 60 teams since registration began June 1st. Applications and business plans are due Sept. 30th. Finalist teams will be announced and paired with mentors on Nov. 1st. The Challenge Prize Day is Feb. 14th, 2015.

Startup Aggieland has added the competition to its curriculum for its Startup Fellows, a prestigious program for freshmen and sophomores. Don Lewis, assistant director of Startup Aggieland and executive professor at Mays Business School, says, “This opportunity seemed like a natural fit to what our student entrepreneurs are already doing. The idea of addressing real-world problems in conjunction with our friends at UT furthers this fit and our strategic alliance.”

Architecture Professor Rodney Hill, a founding member of the Board of Directors for Startup Aggieland, added: “We’re thrilled about the collaboration between these two flagship institutions. It’s how the real world works. We encourage our students to get out of their bubbles and go global.”

For more information on The Food Lab Challenge and for registration details, visit the website: http://utfoodlab.com/2014-ut-food-lab-challenge/

ABOUT STARTUP AGGIELAND
Officially opened in January 2013 at Texas A&M University, Startup Aggieland is a student business accelerator that provides qualified students of all majors with a peer-led startup community that helps students to leverage public and private resources while launching early stage ventures. Startup Aggieland is among the nation’s first student-designed, student-operated business accelerators to serve student startups. Startup Aggieland is open to all qualified Texas A&M University students. Visit the website: ww.startupaggieland.com

ABOUT MAYS BUSINESS SCHOOL

Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School educates more than 5,600 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students in accounting, finance, management, management information systems, marketing and supply chain management. Mays consistently ranks among the top public business schools in the country for its undergraduate and MBA programs, and for faculty research. The mission of Mays Business School is creating knowledge and developing ethical leaders for a global society.