University of São Paulo: Program enrolls university students for online training in innovation for agriculture

University students with innovative ideas for Brazilian agribusiness problems can participate in the Acelera Esalq, an innovation and entrepreneurship update program that receives applications until April 2, using the online form at this link . Promoted by USP’s Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (Esalq) in partnership with the Chinese universities China Agricultural University and Hainan University, the program will be held between April 9 and July 30, 2022 and provides 32 hours of free training, distributed in eight online training sessions of four hours each, on Saturdays, from 8 am to 12 noon.

Interested parties must form a team of 3 to 5 people composed of undergraduate and/or graduate students from public or private higher education institutions, regularly enrolled during the program period. It is mandatory that the team has a mentor, who may be a teacher, researcher or market professional. Students who do not have a team can request individual registration by clicking here .

The selected teams will have direct contact with prominent names in the agro innovation area, in addition to Esalq professors, through fully online training. The best ones will be awarded at the end of the program in a final evaluation by a panel, competing for several awards that will add up to 20 thousand reais. The evaluation criteria include the innovation content of the products or services to be offered, market potential, value generation potential and technical feasibility and entrepreneurial potential.

In the first edition of Acelera Esalq, held in 2020, around 250 university students participated, coming from 41 higher education institutions in eight Brazilian states, and from these, 100 students were selected. Students from the most diverse areas of knowledge participated in the selection, such as Agricultural Sciences, Administration, Engineering, Information Systems, Chemistry, International Relations, Law, Design, Biomedicine, among others.