Context

Amid the ongoing environmental crisis, our food system faces unprecedented challenges, demanding increased productivity, inclusivity, sustainability and resilience. Despite various efforts, no initiative has successfully captured the global intricacies of the food system or effectively communicated with the diverse stakeholders. With this in mind, the EU-funded SOSFood project will leverage data exploitation and AI technologies to revolutionise decision-making across the food chain. Unlike previous initiatives, SOSFood adopts a multi-factorial, multi-actor and multi-scale strategy, ensuring a holistic perspective. The project’s outcomes include a consolidated food data space focused on sustainability and health, along with tailored decision-making tools for both industries and consumers.

Objectives

In the current environmental emergency, the food system has to become more productive, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient. SOSFood will therefore use data-exploitation and AI-based technologies to provide a holistic and comprehensive image of the EU food system and develop tailored predictive tools to support well-informed decisions of all stakeholders of the food chain, with a multi-factorial, multi-actor and multi-scale approach, thanks to its multidisciplinary consortium of experts, from private and public sectors, academia research and food system representative (consumers, producers and industries). Although several initiatives have been taken in the same line, none has fully succeeded at considering the global picture of the system or delivering a reliable and accessible message to the target audience. Hence, SOSFood will result in a consolidated food data space focused on sustainability and health and decision-making tools adapted to each level of the chain (a predictive dashboard displaying data and predictions for industries, and a mobile app for consumers comprising an eco-healthy fingerprint visualization plot, a greening indicator of industries, reformulated European recipes promoting healthy, local and seasonal ingredients and general recommendations), following these steps: (1) creating a multi-actor network gathering social, political, legal, economic, technological, food, health, environmental and climatic data, promoting transparency and data-sharing, (2) mapping the food system scenario with a multidimensional strategy, exploiting the interoperability of data with advanced impact analysis and innovative AI-technologies, (3) co-designing solutions i.e. decision-making tools fitting the context and priorities of each user, validated through field case studies to ensure viability and representativeness.

Activities

WP1 Stakeholder involvement in data-driven analysis of the food system in the search for new solutions

Other comments

In the current situation of environmental emergency, only from a better-informed decision-making involving all food system actors can necessary interventions be taken to transform the food value chain to be more productive,inclusive, sustainable, and resilient. This is why SOSFood proposes to use the great potential of data exploitation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to provide a holistic and In the current situation of environmental emergency, only through better-informed decision-making involving all food system actors can the necessary interventions be taken to transform the food value chain into one that is more productive, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient. This is why SOSFood proposes leveraging the great potential of data exploitation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to provide a holistic and comprehensive view of the European food system. SOSFood aims to develop tailored predictive tools to support all stakeholders in the food chain, enabling them to make well-informed decisions through a multi-factorial, multi-actor, and multi-scale approach.

Although several initiatives have been implemented to reduce waste, help farmers adapt agricultural practices to be more environment-friendly, combat unhealthy diets in the population, promote local food products, and push the manufacturing and distribution industries to optimize their processes, none have fully succeeded in considering the global picture of the food system. Additionally, the tools or channels used to achieve these goals have not always been the most suitable or effective, often being too complex to understand or unaffordable for many stakeholders.

Thanks to its multidisciplinary consortium, SOSFood will accelerate the green transition of the food system. This consortium includes experts from the private and public sectors, academia, and industries, encompassing diverse domains such as health and nutrition (UVIGO, UNL), AI technologies (USC), software