NPD Skills Training - New Product Development Process Fundamentals

Shows you how real food companies structure innovation, make decisions, and avoid costly mistakes along the way.

Level: Explore for students, young entrepreneurs, PhD students with citizenship of one of RIS countries

Applications: Register now for the new course within NPD Skills Training Programme - New Product Development Process Fundamentals, open until 31/12/2025.

Price: Free of charge

Course soon available

Overview: NPD Skills Training - New Product Development Process Fundamentals

About
Who can attend
Practical

Course soon available

About : Focuses exclusively on the food sector

NPD Skills Training – New Product Development Process Fundamentals is a flexible, self-paced online course that walks you through the entire journey of creating new food products, from the first idea to a successful launch. This course does more than explain the stages of NPD: it shows you how real food companies structure innovation, make decisions, and avoid costly mistakes along the way.

What makes this course different?
It focuses exclusively on the food sector, uses real industry examples, and teaches a practical, “first time right” mindset, helping you avoid the common pitfalls that slow down innovation and derail projects. Instead of generic advice, you gain sector-specific tools that reflect the realities of food product development today.

Advantages :

Learn at your own pace and gain real tools you can use from day one.

This course stands out because it blends practical frameworks, real case studies, and food-sector insights, giving you an inside view of how innovation really happens.

You will:

Learn: Understand the full NPD process, including how food companies move from an idea to a validated, market-ready product.
Practice: Work with practical tools, product briefs, risk matrices, feasibility criteria, used by industry teams to bring products to market faster and more successfully.
Apply: Analyse real cases, including how modern technologies like PEF shape food innovation.
Grow: Develop the confidence and structure needed to navigate innovation projects, collaborate across teams, and communicate clearly in complex organisations.

Take your food innovation skills to the next level – learn, apply, and make an impact in the food industry!

Details & Structure :

Estimated learning time: up to 8 hours
Level: Explore
Format: Online, self-paced (Canvas)
Language: English
Eligibility: Exclusively for EIT Food RIS participants

Key Topics:

You will explore the most relevant themes shaping modern product development in the food industry:

How the NPD funnel works and why “first time right” matters.
Building strong product concepts and briefs informed by consumer insights.
Feasibility assessment from every angle: financial, operational, legal, environmental, and organisational.
Risk identification and evaluation using industry-standard tools.
Communication frameworks that improve coordination in complex organisations.
Real innovation cases, including PEF applications in the food industry.
Connecting all stages of NPD into a clear, practical process.

By the end of the course learners will be able to:

Understand the stages of the NPD process and their role in achieving speed to market.
Design a product concept and brief based on consumer insights.
Assess feasibility in terms of operations, financial viability, compliance, and resources.
Identify and evaluate risks associated with NPD projects.
Apply communication frameworks to support effective collaboration in complex organisations.
Integrate knowledge through a practical case study of the NPD process.

Who can attend : This course is designed for learners who want to strengthen their skills and knowledge within the food sector, including:

Students in food-related programmes
Young professionals entering or working in the food industry
PhD candidates focused on food innovation, sensory science, consumer behaviour, or product design
Anyone eager to develop their skills and grow professionally within the food sector

Participants must:

Have a good working knowledge of English, as the course is delivered entirely in English.
Be a citizen of one of the RIS countries, including:
● EU Member States: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain.
● Horizon Europe Associated Countries: Montenegro, Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel
● Outermost Regions: Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion, Martinique, Mayotte and Saint-Martin (France), the Azores and Madeira (Portugal), and the Canary Islands (Spain).

Practical : Self-paced course

Fully online
Start anytime
Open until 31/12/2025
Self-paced completion
Learning materials include videos, summaries, readings, presentations, and practical tasks
Free of charge