Valio Seeks Solutions to Level Seasonal Variation in Milk Production with International Innovation Competition – ValioHackathon Launches on September 22, 2023
Call for solutions - @Biobord_user
Although the consumers buy milk evenly throughout the year, the amount of milk produced varies from season to season. The highest peak is usually experienced in early spring. Dairy operators along the value chain need to plan production, storage, and transportation capacity to handle the peaks in production. With a more balanced production, a dairy could offer more sustainable, and climate-smart milk, more cost-effectively.
Jamk University of Applied Sciences, in collaboration with Valio, is launching an innovation competition on September 22, 2023, aimed at finding solutions to balance the seasonal variation in milk production. This challenge is part of Valio’s responsible and climate smart primary production development, with the goal of achieving carbon neutrality in the milk production chain by 2035.
Balancing seasonal variation starts with effective and profitable solutions at the farm level, enabling change throughout the entire production chain. The goal of ValioHackathon is to discover concrete farm-level methods to mitigate seasonal variation.
Valio has persistently sought to balance seasonal variation in milk production. Through this innovation competition, we are seeking new ideas and fresh perspectives to address this challenge. Valio welcomes student teams, research groups, expert organizations, and companies to participate. Solutions may also come from dairy farms that have successfully balanced seasonal variation.
Steady milk production would enable better cost management and production planning throughout the entire production chain. The capacity of Valio’s production facilities and milk collection could be maintained at a steady level, and capacity planning would not be driven by significant peaks in milk production. For a dairy farm, steady production would be economically beneficial as according to the production agreement, it would be advantageous for the producer to produce milk as evenly as possible. The farm’s production facilities, such as milking capacity, would be used more evenly, and workload peaks could be smoothed out.
Teams with solution ideas can apply to ValioHackathon until October 22, 2023. Active search for teams is organized in Finland and throughout the Baltic Sea region. The selected teams will participate in the Hackathon process, which will culminate in an innovation competition held on November 27-28, 2023, at Valio’s headquarters in Helsinki, where the winner or winners will be chosen. Valio will offer participants the opportunity for direct business collaboration, initiating a joint project, or starting a pilot depending on the maturity of the idea.
ValioHackathon is part of the international BioBoosters project, led by Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences and co-funded by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme. The project brings together nine innovation networks in the bioeconomy sector from countries around the Baltic Sea: Finland, Sweden, the Baltic States, Poland, and Germany. The project organizes 18 Hackathons to support responsible business practices and the transition to a circular economy for bioeconomy companies.
Read more at our website ValioHackathon | Jamk
For more information:
Anna Aalto, Project Manager, BioBoosters project
anna.aalto@jamk.fi | mobile: +358 40 640 2346
Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences, BioPaavo | Jamk
