Cornell University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Oregon State University are the finalists for the American Society of Baking (ASB) annual Product Development Competition, which helps food science students showcase their innovative products to industry experts.

The winner will be announced at BakingTech 2025, which will be Feb. 15-18, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. Teams are competing for a share of the $20,000 scholarship prize pot. They will present their innovative products on the main stage at the show and prepare samples of their entries for the judges.

The competition, which is in its 11^th year, is sponsored by the National Honey Board, which challenged teams to develop a grab-and-go product featuring honey as the primary sweetener. The entries include Cornell’s prOATS!, the University of Massachusetts’ HoneyCrunch and Oregon State’s Garden Box Cookies.

“The competition provides a prestigious platform for these rising stars to engage directly with industry leaders and showcase fresh ideas, creating ‘real world’ product concepts that push the boundaries of baking science and technology,” said Devanshu Mehta, competition committee chair and a member of the winning team in 2022.

The Product Development Competition has awarded more than $200,000 in scholarships. The 2025 finalists were selected by a panel that assessed proposals on product and process descriptions, technical problem-solving, food safety and shelf life.