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CORDIS

Fostering food system transformation by integrating heterogeneous perspectives in knowledge and innovation within the ERA

Project description

A recipe for better-governed food systems

Europe’s food system has achieved high levels of food security and food safety. But it is currently under pressure to nourish people sustainably. In this context, the EU-funded FOSTER project will provide fresh insights into how food systems can be built to be more inclusive and better governed. The project will build an online platform to disseminate the latest information and knowledge, as well as trends and scenarios of future EU food systems. The project will also implement summer schools focused on the integration of related disciplines and citizen science initiatives. Initiating a co-learning process with regional citizen-driven initiatives is also on the project’s list of activities. Project findings will be disseminated via workshops and conferences.

Objective

The vision of FOSTER is to build a foundation from which a new Knowledge and Innovation System (KIS) for Europe’s food system can emerge. The current structure is insufficient to address the emerging challenges of nourishing people in a healthy and sustainable way. Key objective is to gain insights into how it can be built to be more inclusive and better governed.

FOSTER shall help to transform Europe’s food system outcomes and will achieve this by:
- building a FOSTER Platform including food system-state of the art knowledge, foresight by semi-automated Horizon scanning, trend and threats-analysis and new multi-dimensional scenarios of EU food systems to 2040;
- implementing the FOSTER Academy -including 4 Summer Schools- for integrating food system-related disciplines and citizen science to enhance food system understanding across the ERA;
- initiating and assessing a co-creation and co-learning process within six national resp. regional Citizen Driven Initiatives (CDIs), in which new knowledge, strategies and Action Research Agendas are gained;
- scaling out and deep CDIs solutions and approaches to other territorial contexts;
- studying different R&I mechanisms of policy support for mission-oriented R&I policy for food systems transformation, and analysing and ground-proofing them in each CDI;
- strengthening science-policy interfaces by co-learning processes with external experts and developing recommendations for food systems R&I policies tailored to different geographies and sectors;
- identifying the trigger points to help ‘unlock’ system lock-ins and support further dynamics towards system transformation;
- and applying reflective monitoring on all FOSTER’s co-learning activities to develop insights into how the KIS can be broadened from an agricultural-KIS to a food system-KIS.

To inspire adoption of FOSTER learnings, over 20 workshops and a final conference will be conducted; scientific position papers and policy briefs will be widely communicated.

Coordinator

DIL DEUTSCHES INSTITUT FUR LEBENSMITTELTECHNIK EV
Net EU contribution
€ 678 637,50
Address
PROF VON KLITZING STRASSE 7
49610 Quakenbruck
Germany

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Region
Niedersachsen Weser-Ems Osnabrück, Landkreis
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost
€ 678 637,50

Participants (17)

Partners (1)