Harnessing the power of the digital age
Hunger, unsustainable foods, lack of access to nutritious food, and food waste - these are issues Europeans face every day. We will use technology as a force for good to develop solutions across the breadth of the European food system including for producers, distributors, retailers, and citizens.
Our solutions aim to improve Europeans’ livelihoods, promoting healthier, more sustainable, and ethical foods and providing co-benefits that support the EU goal to substantially reduce carbon emissions by 2030. Our research will increase people’s access to, and knowledge of, foods that are good for them and good for the planet.
Methods
How will we make a difference?
We will innovate with entrepreneurs, engage with communities to co-develop solutions, and conduct research to provide evidence for people and policymakers on the most effective actions. Here are some examples of our work!
Open-innovation: Hack for Food, Hack for Good
Competition time! We are running Hackathons in five European tech hotspots to bring the best solutions to address large problems including food waste, obesity, and food insecurity. Hackathons will bring the best and brightest innovators together to build prototypes and receive mentoring from fablabs to create viable end products. Find out here about a Hackathon near you!
Milan London Kaunas Berlin Stockholm
Living Labs
We are partnering with four living labs across Europe to counter the biggest food-system problems facing their vulnerable communities. The Living Labs are user-focused experimental environments including municipalities, social services, and charities that work with their communities and partners to co-create innovative solutions. Communities involved include children in childcare and schools, older adults, migrant and minority communities, and low-income households.
Find out more about solutions being developed in our Living Labs in Leuven, Gent, Oxfordshire, and Prilep here.
Using the tech platforms our living labs develop, we are conducting research to identify how to provide persuasive messaging to community groups to increase healthy food intake and reduce food insecurity, with the overall goal of increasing health and well-being.
Calling all shoppers!
Be a participant in an exciting new smartphone app trial researching the impact of different sorts of food labels! We are recruiting 6,000 shoppers who use smartphones in France, Germany, and Spain and asking them to do their shopping using the myLabel smartphone app that gives information about the healthiness, sustainability, and ethical status of the foods they select. We will study whether food labels and other information seen on the app can help people choose healthier, more sustainable, and ethical foods and we’ll share our findings to influence food labeling policy at the EU level. Find out more about this myLabel trial here.
Read about our research activity
Call to Action! Recruitment for the myLabel trial will begin in early 2025! To find out more about the trial and about how you could contribute click here.
Past events:
FEAST has organized four hackathons in the past. Detailed information about these hackathons can be found here.
