Course Title: Entrepreneurship in Nutrition and Food

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Entrepreneurship in Nutrition and Food

Credit Points: 12.00


Course Coordinator: Harsharn Gill

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 2600

Course Coordinator Email: harsharn.gill@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Bundoora

Course Coordinator Availability: By appointment


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Assumed Knowledge

Entrepreneurship in Food and Nutrition is an intermediate-level undergraduate food technology and nutrition course. It assumes knowledge of the introductory food and nutrition courses.


Course Description

This interactive course seeks to introduce students to the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and provide knowledge and skills required to develop innovative food or nutritional products, grow business or create a new venture. You will be immersed in both the theory and practice of entrepreneurship and design thinking. This includes problem exploration and definition, industry analysis and customer research, ideation, prototyping, designing an appropriate business model, testing and iteration, and how to make an effective business pitch. You will learn how to apply these skills to create and validate new ideas and solve real-world food industry problems.

If you are enrolled in this course as a component of your Bachelor Honours Program, your overall mark will contribute to the calculation of the weighted average mark (WAM).

See the WAM information web page for more information.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Program Learning Outcomes

This course contributes to the Program Learning Outcomes (PLO) for the following programs:

 

BP199 Bachelor of Food Technology & Nutrition

BH289 Bachelor of Food Technology & Nutrition / Bachelor of Business

The course maps to the following PLOs:

  • PLO 1: Apply a broad and coherent knowledge of scientific theories, principles, concepts and practices relevant to the fields of food technology and nutrition.
  • PLO 3: Apply principles of scientific inquiry, tools and techniques relevant to food and nutrition industries to solve problems and inform evidence-based decision making.
  • PLO 4: Critically evaluate and communicate concepts and practices relevant to the fields of food technology and nutrition to diverse audiences utilising contemporary and traditional formats employing professional integrity and culturally safe practices.
  • PLO 6: Collaborate and contribute within diverse, multi-disciplinary teams, with commitment to diversity, equity and globally inclusive perspectives and practices including First Nations knowledges and input.

 

BP350 Bachelor of Science

  • PLO1 Apply a broad and coherent knowledge of scientific theories, principles, concepts and practice in one or more scientific disciplines.
  • PLO3 Analyse and critically examine scientific evidence using methods, technical skills, tools and emerging technologies in a range of scientific activities.  
  • PLO4 Communicate, report and reflect on scientific findings, to diverse audiences utilising a variety of formats employing integrity and culturally safe practices.   
  • PLO6 Collaborate and contribute within diverse, multi-disciplinary teams, with commitment to diversity, equity and globally inclusive perspectives and practices including First Nations knowledges and input.  


Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)

On completion of this course, working both individually and as part of a team, you will be able to:

  1. Describe the fundamentals and essentials of entrepreneurship.
  2. Exhibit a clear understanding of design thinking and its application to food and nutrition innovations, including the principles of Stage-Gate process for innovation management in the food industry.
  3. Apply an entrepreneurial mindset to identify and systematically evaluate, through market research and industry analysis, entrepreneurial opportunities when developing innovative business solutions and assessing their viability.
  4. Evaluate through prototyping, testing and iterating the likely commercial viability of a new product or venture.
  5. Design a business model for commercialising an innovative product or concept.
  6. Design and deliver an effective business pitch.


Overview of Learning Activities

You will be actively engaged in a mix of self-directed online (recorded-lectures presenting themes, contents and ideas) and timetabled, face-to-face learning activities (lectures, tutorials, workshops, case studies etc.). Working in groups (supervised and unsupervised; blended mode), you will brainstorm, identify, discuss and devise solutions to real-world food industry problems using, for example, market research, trends analyses, a range of digital tools and your group’s collective creativity.

You are encouraged to be proactive and self-directed in your learning, asking questions of your lecturer and/or peers and seeking out information as required, especially from the numerous sources available through the RMIT library, and through links and material specific to this course that is available through RMIT Student Website.


Overview of Learning Resources

You will be referred to relevant texts, library resources, databases, patents and reliable, authoritative internet sites.

You will be provided materials required for case studies and tutorials/workshops.

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through RMIT Student Website.

There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the RMIT Student Website.


Overview of Assessment

Assessment Tasks

This course contains no hurdle requirements.

Assessment Task 1: Report (Market research, problem exploration and definition; individual assignment)
Weighting: 20%
The assessment task supports CLOs 1 and 3

Assessment Task 2: Report (Business case; group assignment)
Weighting: 30%
The assessment task supports CLOs 2, 4 and 5 

Assessment Task 3: Presentation (Business pitch; group activity)
Weighting: 30%
The assessment task supports CLO 6

Assessment Task 4: Case study (individual assignment)
Weighting: 20%
The assessment task supports CLOs 3, 4 and 5

 

If you have a long term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.