By Fraunhofer ISI

Europe 2035 – What are we going to eat? Where will we do our grocery shopping? How can we produce food using fewer resources? Who can benefit most from new trends? Which other industries will affect the food industry? What will the food sector look like? These questions are part of the EU Horizon 2020 project FOX, and are at the core of FOX’s foresight research component.

FOX – Food processing in a Box – is a project in which more than 25 European partners aim to transform large-scale technologies for the processing of fruits and vegetables, to small, flexible and mobile units in your neighbourhood! FOX is all about health and sustainability.

The innovative processing solutions are therefore flexible, resource-efficient, and based on seasonality and demand. It considers the expectations of farmers and small food businesses, looks at the technical and economic feasibility, and takes into account the needs of the food chain and consumers.

Consumers will be actively involved in the development of new products and new business options for sustainable consumption. This allows for transparency and trust in the food chain. FOX stimulates short food supply chains; transitioning from a more centralised industry, to local production hubs.

So-called food-circles are the European regions in which the FOX technologies will be demonstrated to be integrated into the entire food production chain.

The Competence Center Foresight of the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI derives and conducts foresight processes for developing future scenarios that outline the framework conditions of the European food innovation system of 2035.

As part of this process, scientists and experts have identified and analyzed a variety of trends influencing the food sector. The most compelling 50 are presented as “trends to go” in this brochure. With additional information, the 15 most relevant trends are explained in more detail as “trends à la carte”.