THE INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION WAS PRESENTED THIS MORNING IN MILAN, ORGANIZED WITH THE COLLABORATION OF EXPO MILANO 2015, THE ITALIAN MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURAL, FOOD AND FOREST POLICIES AND THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, AND THE PATRONAGE OF UN FOR EXPO, FAO AND THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME

Università Bocconi, with the collaboration of EXPO Milano 2015 and the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forest Policies and the European Commission, is calling 200 undergraduate students from around the world to Milan for a week of study, teamwork and challenges on the topic of food waste: #FoodSavingBEC – Bocconi EXPO2015 Competition, at Bocconi from 24 June to 1 July 2015. The initiative has the patronage of UN for EXPO, FAO and the World Food Program.
 
The 200 students will be required to develop innovative solutions to the problem and, after returning home, will become ambassadors to raise awareness among their peers all over the world on the need to prevent and fight the waste of 1.3 billion metric tons of food each year.
 
#FoodSavingBEC and the website www.foodsavingbec.com, which will be used to select participants, were presented this morning at Università Bocconi by Maurizio Martina, Italian Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forest Policies; Giuseppe Sala, Commissioner of the Government of Italy for Expo 2015; and Andrea Sironi, Rector of Università Bocconi.
 
According to FAO data, one third of the food produced on the planet is never eaten and food waste is responsible for 3.3Gt of CO2 equivalents (between 6 and 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions – only the United States and China have higher emissions), it occupies 1.4 billion hectares of land (only the Russian Federation is larger) and it uses 250 square kilometers of water (no country in the world uses as much).
 
The 200 selected students will attend lectures specially designed by Bocconi faculty members, they will hear first-hand accounts from experts selected by partners of the initiative and they will be divided into teams to find creative and innovative solutions to the problem of food waste. The students themselves will vote for the top five ideas, who will face off on the final day of the competition at the EXPO 2015 Italy Pavilion in front of a qualified panel of judges.
 
To participate in the selection, students will need to film a motivational video introducing themselves in English, lasting not longer than 90 seconds, and share it on the website www.foodsavingbec.com, along with information regarding their résumé. Ten spots will be assigned based on results from online voting, while the others will be selected based on the decision of an admissions committee, which will consider several parameters: university transcripts; clear explanation of motivation to participate; result of online voting; extracurricular experiences; knowledge of English. The five students attending a non-Italian university that have the highest ranking will also be guaranteed a round trip ticket to Milan.
 
Read further:

- Speech by Bocconi rector, Andrea Sironi
- Numbers on food waste
- #FoodSavingBEC in a nutshell
- The competition: FAQs