Starting again from the legacy of Expo to innovate a central sector for the economy, one of the greatest protagonists of Made in Italy. With this motivation, the Politecnico di Milano has established, starting from the 2019-2020 academic year, a new course, taught in English, for a master's degree in Food Engineering.
“The new one – they explain from the Milanese university – represents a unique training course of its kind at national level: a container of interdisciplinary and transversal polytechnic skills that will train food engineers capable of solving problems and innovating the value chain of the entire supply chain.
The course responds to the requests for innovation from the business world and to the need to strengthen an increasingly strategic sector for the economic development of the country".
The graduate in Food Engineering, in the intentions of the Polytechnic (which for the course makes use of the collaboration of 7 partners in the sector: Esselunga, Goglio, Granarolo, Nestlé, Number1, Unilever Italia, Unitec), will be a 360-degree specialist of the whole food industry chain, a professional capable of holding qualified positions in what is one of the fittest sectors of the entire Italian economy, driven not only by the worldwide fame of our local cuisine but also by all the Made in Italy products.
The food industry in Italy, as already reported on First&Food, in fact runs faster than the national GDP: indeed much more, because according to the data of the recently published Food Industry Monitor, in 2018 while the country's economy was slowing down (in 2019 a growth of just 0,1/0,2% is expected ), that of the agri-food industry (considering all the protagonists, including distribution and packaging) grew by 3,1%.
A growth that will continue according to estimates also in 2019 at the same rate, despite the uncertainties related to trade wars between the US, the European Union and China. Indeed, according to a Coldiretti analysis based on Istat data, exports of Made in Italy food around the world in February recorded a record leap of +10% compared to the same period of the previous year.
Italian food thus reached 2,9 billion euros in exports in just one month, thanks to a threefold increase compared to that of total exports, stuck at +3,4%. And even in the US of protectionist Donald Trump, it managed to grow by 17%.
“The link with the territory, craftsmanship and innovation in production processes – explained Carmine Garzia, coordinator of the Food Industry Monitor and professor at Unisg – are the main determinants of the profitable growth of companies in the sector, both in terms of profitability of sales (ROS), and for that of invested capital (ROIC)".
According to the Food Industry Monitor, which analyzes the economic and competitive data of 823 companies (71% of the corporations operating in the sector), for a aggregate turnover of approximately 63 billion euros, the best sectors in the last 9 years have been flour, frozen food, coffee, oil and wine.
