Competition 13: Funded by SENA
North Carolina State University, North Carolina, U.S.
Partner: SENA Centro para la Formación Cafetera, Regional Caldas, Colombia
Training the Next Generation of Coffee Producers & Consumers via Innovation & Entrepreneurship Consortium Uniting People for Sustainability (CUPS)
The Innovation Fund grant will allow increased bilateral collaboration between North Carolina State University and SENA Centro para la Formación Cafetera, while increasing study abroad in the fields of agriculture, environment, tourism and gastronomy. Through bi-directional training in coffee production, the partnering institutions will bring new technologies for training future coffee farmers to increase their focus of entrepreneurship across different disciplines and businesses across the United States and Latin America & the Caribbean. The program includes a dynamic mobile training laboratory on product development, which will be utilized by students from both institutions to exchange ideas and kick start new product innovations, as well as discuss and learn from key experts in the agri-business sectors.