Food Sol Heads to San Francisco
This month, I’ll be in San Francisco to guest lecture at Stanford University in its graduate-level Food, Health and Nutrition Entrepreneurship course and to facilitate the monthly THRIVE event at Babson San Francisco (thank you, Kim Bryden for the shout-out on Tidbit!)
Everyone in food knows that San Francisco is one of the U.S. hotbeds for food innovation activity. Between the fertile soils of California and the tech and capital engines and energy of Silicon Valley, it’s little surprise. (Arguably only New York rivals the Bay Area—with Boston close behind.) Companies such as Impossible Foods, Kite Hill, NatureBox (a Babson alumnus business), TERRA, ripe.io, Full Harvest, Imperfect Produce, and Revolution Foods all call the Bay Area their home.
Director of Product Strategy at ripe.io, Ami Patel, will be our special guest at Babson San Francisco for the monthly THRIVE event on Wednesday, March 14. Pioneers in blockchain technology for the food supply chain, ripe.io is an exciting, nimble, and smart start-up gaining attention and ground in this dynamic area of food-system transformation.
While many areas of food technology have proven themselves questionable in terms of long-term value and relevance, the real potentials in blockchain for food are tremendous. From tracking solutions that will improve food safety, create new markets for farmers, and reduce food waste (just to name three massive benefits), the opportunities for blockchain to solve systemic supply chain inefficiencies are many, layered, and game-changing. Both ripe.io’s position in the field and its ability to communicate these values are impressive.
I cannot wait to interview Ami and to expose the Babson and Bay Area food communities to her perspective. All are welcome to attend. Hosted at Babson’s downtown San Francisco campus at 135 Main Street @ Mission, the formal program will be followed by light bites and networking.
While in San Francisco, I’ll also be meeting with leaders of some of the other aforementioned companies to engage them in a new Blended Learning course as well as a BabsonX (edX) course on Food Entrepreneurship. The opportunities to reach learners all over the world and to engage companies beyond the “backyard” of our Wellesley campus are tremendously exciting.
Current Babson MBAs and recent alumni who wish to sit in on the Stanford class visit are welcome. Please contact me for details, rgreenberger1@babson.edu. The THRIVE event is open to the public and registration is available here.