By Fraunhofer ISI

Vertical farming and urban gardening, artificial intelligence in food retail, burgers made from insects as alternative proteins, or online grocery shopping – many social trends and technologies are influencing the food system today and will shape how the European food sector will look like in 2035. These trends are already apparent today, but which of them could change the whole food system on the long term? Which trends are only hypes and temporary? These and many other questions are part of the EU Horizon 2020 project FOX, and are at the core of FOX’s foresight research component.

The recently published “Farm to Fork Strategy” of the European Commission shows the need for action for the food sector. Sustainable food production, ensuring food security, reducing food losses and waste and many other aspects are essential to reach a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system. But how will these challenges be tackled? Who is driving the actions for sustainability? And how do these measures look like?

The Competence Center Foresight of the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI derives and conducts a foresight process for developing future scenarios that outline the framework conditions of the European food innovation system of 2035. In a first step, scientists and experts have identified and analysed a variety of trends influencing the food sector. The most compelling were published in the brochure “50 trends influencing Europe’s food sector by 2035”. Taking these trends as a starting point, we designed and conducted an online foresight scenario process to draw three alternative pictures of the future, how the European food sector could look like in 15 years. Our aim is not to predict exactly how the food sector will develop because this is impossible. However, we want to contribute to the discussion by reflecting and studying possible influencing aspects and alternative futures, as a look into the future creates the possibility to develop together ideas for improvement strategies to be better prepared.

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 – and how technologies can support and promote these goals. 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 consumers and the food chain. The latter 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.