My name is Karla Marie Paredes and I come from Manila, Philippines. For my second year in FIPDes, I took the Food Packaging Design specialization in Lund, Sweden. The two semesters we spent in Lund University allowed us to have more interactions with Swedish and international students, as well as more projects and collaborations with industrial partners and companies. The modules we had in Lund were generally new topics for most of us in FIPDes, such as Applied Logistics Simulation or Packaging Logistics. I think I can speak for all of us (who chose Sweden) that we were very satisfied with our choice. It was an excellent learning experience. We also enjoyed the cozy atmosphere of a small university city such as Lund.

I did my master’s thesis on tube food, an interesting facet of Swedish food culture. Since there seems to be a knowledge gap on Swedish tube food, I did a preliminary study on its industrial history and consumers’ perspectives. During the course of my thesis, I believe my appreciation for Swedish culture and society, in general, developed. Now, despite having already finished my FIPDes education, I am still in Sweden, working for a company called Krinova Incubator and Science Park. Krinova fosters collaboration between companies, organizations, higher education, and the public sector to promote innovation and development in the areas of food, environment, and health in the southern part of Sweden. Specifically, the project I am working with involves radical innovation in the beverage sector in Skåne. I am happy to be a part of this project because it is closely related to the FIPDes objective of facing the challenges in the sector of food innovation.