Ideas for Milk will be at UFRJ

Event for agrarian, exact sciences and human sciences students talks about innovation and startups in agribusiness.

The Caravan 4.0, a series of mobilization events that makes up the Ideas for Milk, has already gone through universities in five Brazilian states in 2019 and arrives at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro on Friday, October 4, at 10 am, in the auditorium of COPPE (Center of Technology, G-122). The researchers and analysts from Embrapa Gado de Leite will visit higher education institutions across the country to talk with professors and students about the milk supply chain, the digital agribusiness revolution, and the agritech market. Besides contributing to the expansion of the milk innovation ecosystem, one of Caravana 4.0's objectives is to motivate the development of startup proposals aimed at solving milk chain problems.
By the end of September, more than 30 caravans will be held, covering ten states in Brazil.

In addition to Caravan 4.0, the Ideas for Milk is formed by the Startup Challenge, which is now in its fourth edition. Until the last edition, the Challenge was intended only for entrepreneurs with digital innovation projects. For this year, there are more opportunities. Besides digital innovation, applications will be accepted from startups with innovation in industrial design, dairy products, biotechnology, nanotechnology, materials, inputs, among other solutions with innovative business models.
The final of the Startup Challenge will take place in São Paulo, in the Cube, on November 22^nd. Finalists travel on the costs paid for the  Ideas for Milk.  Registration is open and can be made free of charge at the event's website: http://www.ideasformilk.com.br. Further information can be obtained at the same site.

Another event linked to the Ideas for Milk is the Vacathon, a week-long programming marathon held at Embrapa Gado de Leite, in Juiz de Fora. Teams from up to 20 universities participate, and each institution scales five students from various courses, bringing together the agrarian, exact and human sciences. There is no registration for Vacathon. A professor is chosen as ambassador and is responsible for organizing the team.

The Ideas for Milk is an action of Embrapa Gado de Leite, created in 2016. According to Embrapa Gado de Leite's CEO, Paulo Martins, “the goal is to foster the emergence of an ecosystem, bringing together companies, universities, agricultural research and the productive sector, capable not only of presenting solutions, but of undertaking, transforming the solutions in new startups for the milk production chain ”. According to a survey by Agtech Valley, today, in Brazil, one in five agribusiness startups are related to the milk chain.

Further information on the Caravan 4.0 at UFRJ can be obtained with Profs. Guilherme Horta Travassos (PESC) and Claudio Miceli de Farias (NCE).