Master students at FINEST in the spring of 2022

Abhimanyu Harish and Ujjwal Muniraju 

Abhimanyu and Ujjwal are students at Uppsala University working with FINEST with a background in engineering and are pursuing a master’s program in industrial management and innovation.

Their master thesis will focus on analyzing the farming sector of legumes in both Indian and Swedish companies.

This includes comparing technology and innovative business strategies employed by primary companies and closely linked actors to develop the industry. Bringing in knowledge and experience from India will complement their comparative approach in identifying key areas that will benefit the Swedish legume industry towards a sustainable transition outlook.

Work Package 1 FINEST - A sustainable food system
Supervisor Thomas Lennerfors, Uppsala University
Subject Reader: Helena Fornstedt, Uppsala Universitiy

Sido Altenburg

Sido Altenburg is studying the master's program Industrial Management and Innovation at Uppsala University.

In the master thesis, Sido Altenburg will explore the Swedish legume industry and the extraction of protein. He hopes to be able to clarify whether there are crucial bottlenecks that limit the industry and thus create barriers to developing the Swedish legume industry and its value chain.

Work Package 1 FINEST - A sustainable food system
Supervisor Thomas Lennerfors, Uppsala University
Subject Reader: Helena Fornstedt, Uppsala University

Felicia Wallden and Rebecca Markgren

Felicia Wallden and Rebecca Markgren study at the master's program Industrial Management and Innovation at Uppsala University.

In their master thesis they will map the Swedish and Finnish innovation systems that affect today's berry industries and examine how they differ. In Finland, there seems to be a larger market for Finnish berries than there is for Swedish berries in Sweden. Why is that so, Felicia Wallden and Rebecca Markgren, wonder.

The hope is that with their work they will create an understanding of Sweden's need for, for example, knowledge and innovations to be able to create market-leading suppliers and berry industries based on our own fantastic wild berries.

Work Package 1 FINEST - A sustainable food system
Supervisor: Sophia Wassén, RISE
Subject Reader: Paul Plummer, Uppsala University

Qingyi Ning och Jiajing Yu

Qingyi Ning and Jiajing Yu are studying the master's program Industrial Management and Innovation at Uppsala University.

Their master’s thesis is about the international bilberry bio-extraction industry, and how Sweden could become more active in this area. Sweden is one of the largest producers of wild berries in Europe but lacks domestic resources for bio-extraction.

Qingyi Ning and Jiajing Yu hope that through their research they will be able to identify factors that hinder the development of a Swedish bio-extraction industry and propose feasible solutions for Sweden to become more active in the area of bilberry bio-extraction.

Work Package 1 FINEST - A sustainable food system
Supervisor Thomas Lennerfors, Uppsala University
Subject Reader: Paul Plummer, Uppsala University

Minglu Zou 

There are many bilberry containing dietary supplements on the global market, which are marketed as offering various health benefits, such as improving eyesight. Sweden is in an advantageous position when it comes to this market, due to having vast quantities of wild bilberries which grow naturally in its forests.

By creating an understanding of what drives the global bilberry supplement market, this thesis project aims to create valuable knowledge for the development of the Swedish bilberry industry.

Through analysing how companies in China, Japan, and the United States market berry-containing dietary products and how they use storytelling and science in their marketing strategies, the thesis can be used as inspiration for marketing strategies which could be applied in the Swedish market, or for the marketing of Swedish berry products abroad.

Work package 1 FINEST - A sustainable food system
Supervisor Thomas Lennerfors, Uppsala University
Subject Reader: Paul Plummer, Uppsala universitet