February 19, 2024
UniSQ and TSBE host FaBA industry event
The who's who of Toowoomba's food and beverage manufacturing sector gathered in February to discuss opportunities for the sector to broaden their offerings, diversify markets and improve their bottom lines at an event co-hosted by UniSQ and the Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise (TSBE).
FaBA Director, Dr Chris Downs, highlighted the opportunities available through the ‘triple helix’, when industry, government and academia collaborate.
“It’s exciting that UniSQ, TSBE and FaBA can bring together such a wonderful group of people from across the region who are interested in innovation and skills development. The best innovation happens when teams get together, and co-design and co-invest in projects to deliver value to industry,” he said.
UniSQ leaders in food and beverage manufacturing presented:
Associate Professor Polly Burey, School of Agriculture and Environmental Science, described how the UniSQ team works with food and food processing industries to analyse food supply systems and determine economically and environmentally viable food by-product transformation strategies and processes
Ms Ursula Kennedy gave an overview of the Queensland College of Wine Tourism and in viticulture training
Professor Bernadette McCabe, Centre for Agricultural Engineering, described enabling technologies in food production, vision systems and robotics to deliver high quality products within the food and meat processing industries.
Professor McCabe said UniSQ researchers could work with F&B manufacturers to save money, improve productivity and product quality.
Stephen Dummett, TSBE Innovation and Skills Manager, said the region was well placed for the future: “Through FaBA and UniSQ we have a strong collaborative platform to develop our industry ahead of the Brisbane Olympic Games and the legacy benefits beyond.”
Associate Professor Nidhi Bansal leads the FaBA Training Centre, focused on training the next generation of food and beverage manufacturing leaders, and upskilling those already in the industry.
She spoke on the FaBA Regional Internship Program that offers scholarships to food science scholars to undertake internships with regional businesses across Australia. There was significant interest in the FaBA MakerSpace, which enables businesses to use high tech equipment to test new products and ingredients, that they may not normally be able to access.
Image: Professor Bernadette McCabe