In order to further implement the requirements of the "Pioneer Plan" and the "3510" strategic project of the school, and actively carry out the "Striving Project" action of the Food College, on June 17th, the Food College of Tianjin University of Science and Technology organized an expert review meeting for concept verification projects in the food field. This review is the core special task for the college to implement the "Striving Project" research orientation. Focusing on the bottlenecks and difficulties in the industrialization of food scientific and technological achievements, it conducts a comprehensive assessment of 7 ongoing projects from two dimensions: technical feasibility and commercial feasibility. It screens out high-quality scientific research achievements with market prospects, builds a bridge for the connection between scientific research teams, industrial enterprises, and investment and financing resources, and promotes the acceleration of frontier laboratory technologies towards the industrial front line.

This evaluation project covers the three major characteristic research directions of the college, including high-value utilization of livestock by-products, functional components derived from food and medicine, rapid food safety detection, precise skin care materials, and traditional fermentation upgrades. Each project has formed a complete technical system, with prominent innovation advantages, covering six key areas: high-value utilization of livestock by-products, development of functional peptides from yak skins, improvement of active components from food and medicine, precise skin care materials, multi-target food safety rapid detection, and high-end clean fermented soy sauce. Each direction has a solid technical foundation and ample potential for industrialization.

During the review process, the expert group closely adhered to the "striving project" set construction goals of "promoting production through research and fostering research through production", focusing on the core concerns of the industry and the investors and conducting item-by-item inquiries. For different project tracks, they provided feasible optimization suggestions: for projects related to processing of agricultural and sideline resources, it is necessary to improve the stability of raw material supply, transportation biosecurity and cost control plans; for projects involving detection equipment and functional peptides, it is necessary to clearly define the target customers, quantitatively highlight the differentiated advantages of the products; for skincare and fermentation projects, it is necessary to simplify the theoretical content, restructure the logic of the market-oriented roadshow, and clearly define the product track and profit model.

This review further clarified the research development direction for the next stage of the "Striving Project": The entire institute's research will continue to focus on high-value-added fields such as food safety, functional active factors, and precise nutrition. It requires that industrialization projects be equipped with stable supply chains, clear product positioning, controllable costs, and feasible business models as the four core elements.

The concept verification review is the key leverage point for the transformation of the "Striving Project" in the institute. It effectively connects the "basic research - pilot-scale expansion - industrialization implementation" entire chain. In the future, the institute will urge each project team to iterate and optimize the plans based on the expert opinions, prioritize the projects with mature technologies and clear implementation paths to conduct concept verification, and connect with cooperation enterprises and investment channels; for the projects that still need improvement, provide targeted special guidance to adjust product positioning, market promotion, and industrial cooperation models.

In the future, the Food Institute will fully implement the "3510" strategic project, further promote the "Pioneer Plan", and continuously deepen the construction of the "Striving Project". With a series of measures such as regular concept verification reviews, university-enterprise joint research, and industrial project incubation as carriers, it will deeply explore the innovation potential in fields such as by-product recycling, food and medicine health, and intelligent detection. Through practical and hard work, it will deepen the integration of industry-university-research, continuously cultivate a batch of feasible and high-yield food science and technology achievements, and continuously inject the research momentum of universities into the high-quality development of regional food industries.

Author: Zhang Lingling