FSC5052 New product innovation and development

This is one of your optional Part D units (12 credit points) in the Master of Food Science and Agribusiness. It complements your core science units (Part A) and builds on your core agribusiness units (Part B), with a focus on practical new product development within the Master’s program.

In this unit, you will extend industry approaches to hands‑on product formulation and development, with a specific focus on the food and beverage sector. You will explore how to achieve consumer appeal through techniques such as formulation, customer‑focused product innovation, personalised product innovation, and sensory science, while considering branding, prototyping and positioning that influence behaviour during the transition to commercialisation. You will examine category management principles and retail readiness, and you will encounter the challenges and opportunities involved in translating and commercialising food science, including the stakeholders and regulations that oversee the production process. You will communicate commercial concepts to stakeholders using multimedia communication tools and commercialisation strategies. As part of the unit, you will be assigned a specific new product and work with an expert from the food industry.

You will engage in practical laboratory formulation, evidence‑based problem‑solving, and predictive thinking through the analysis, critique, and interpretation of empirical economic and data analysis, as well as established commerce experiments relevant to the food industry. The unit develops your ability to disseminate complex consumer and market data, communicating innovative design and production concepts to a variety of stakeholders in the food industry.