Keywords: peer-to-peer learning, knowledge transfer, network  

The peer-to-peer learning approach is learning at equal level, where people with similar tasks, aims or challenges share experiences, ideas and knowledge with each other without hierarchies. 

Peer-to-peer learning in FoodSHIFT2030  

There are many peer-to-peer learning formats, some of which have been gathered within FoodSHIFT2030 in deliverable 5.3 under the title “Multiplying the impact – sharing experiences: training and guidance materials for knowledge transfer”. This collection primarily addresses the FoodSHIFT2030 Accelerator Labs (FALs) and aims to facilitate peer-to-peer knowledge transfer of experience with food system innovations among all FALs as well as among the FALs and the FoodSHIFT2030 Enabler Labs (FELs). However, it can also serve as a diverse source of inspiration for actors in the field of mutual knowledge transfer beyond the project’s lifetime and thematic scope. 

The document is available for download in the “resources” section of FoodSHIFT’s website among various further inspiring outputs of the project: https://foodshift2030.eu/resources/. 

On the one hand, the material contains peer-to-peer learning formats in general description which can be applied in a variety of situations and knowledge transfer environments. On the other hand, there are knowledge transfer formats that were developed or/and applied specifically within the FoodSHIFT2030 context. 

It is an elementary aspect that not only the knowledge transfer formats themselves follow the peer-to-peer approach, but also the compilation of the material took place in co-creation, a collaborative process of knowledge generation: hereby, the FALs generated knowledge for each other, such as good practice cases from within the project as well as specific training material from a FAL’s individual experience.  Further, in an iterative bottom-up approach which required the intensive involvement of the FALs, their needs, strengths and challenges were identified, for instance during consortium meetings, in interviews and in brainstorming sessions.  

Thus, in the spirit of peer-to-peer learning, most of the training and guidance material was not unilaterally created by FoodSHIFT’s WP5 team for knowledge transfer but arose from the condensed outcomes of these assessments. The WP5 team, the knowledge brokers, hereby guide this knowledge generation to ensure that the knowledge is being transferred within and beyond in formats suitable for the respective target groups.   

An exemplary format: a series of video interviews  

In addition to the tools for networking, information, and knowledge transfer, as well as best practices and implementation examples from FALs and much more, the collection includes a series of video interviews in which FALs have their say:  

Recorded at the consortium meeting in Brasov, they spontaneously talk about their innovation principles as well as their experiences in the project with a focus on the interaction with the FELs with whom knowledge transfer and experience sharing is taking place very specifically within the project. 

© Annika Frühbeißer 

In addition, an introductory animated video has been created that explains a little about the FALs and their activities in FoodSHIFT2030. You can find the four video interviews and the introductory video on the YouTube channel of FoodSHIFT2030 in the playlist:  Exchange visits: Knowledge Exchange FAL to FEL. 

© Annika Frühbeißer 

Shooting and editing video requires some training, and a course is recommended. However, if once the necessary know-how has been acquired, all you need is a smartphone with a stabilisator (a so-called gimbal), a filming and editing app as well as a clip-on microphone to professionally produce your own videos.

Videos are establishing as a knowledge transfer format since they correspond to the zeitgeist and offer many advantages:

• Knowledge can be conveyed in a highly compressed and easily understandable way through video content.
• In addition to real-filmic elements, animation elements allow creative freedom and add a framework and structure to a video; for instance, we used the simpleshow.com programme in FoodSHIFT’s videos.
• Knowledge can be accessed freely at any time, the knowledge flow can be paused and repeated if the videos are published on public platforms such as YouTube or a project website.
• Onward dissemination by the viewers, even on a large scale, is low-threshold and can have a great impact (social media).
• And last but not least, it is great fun to talk to your peers and gain new insights whilst you are shooting the videos!

Watch the series of video interviews here below:

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In these portraits, each of the 90 innovators has been profiled using compact descriptive section addressing the key activities and achievements so far as well as the near future perspectives under the heading ‘Looking ahead’. The one-page portraits are complemented by infographics on the impacts and the relevant contact details.

For quick orientation, the innovations have been categorized according to four innovation dimensions: product, process, social & governance. These dimensions enable us to identify what kind of innovations are being initiated across city regions and provide suitable, relevant support.

These rich examples give us a glimpse of how food system innovations can look, and how they can be effective in addressing elements of the food system, and the relevant stakeholders that are involved. Together, these innovators and related stakeholders form the Innovation Ecosystem in their city-region, which has the potential to redefine local food systems.

Supporting Innovations

In addition to these differing innovation dimensions, the Innovation Portraits also highlight the varying maturity levels seen among innovations. This maturity refers to the developmental stage of an innovation, which can be useful in identifying the needs and next steps that an innovator can take to bring an idea to life, from Eureka! moment to viable product or service.

Based on the maturity of an innovation, we can establish what kind of support would be best suited to the innovator. This support takes three main forms:

Maturing – advancing an innovation for better application as a solution. E.g. improved functioning of the innovation, better organizational structure, developing a business strategy…

Combining – linking of different innovations for strategic purposes. E.g. partnerships to facilitate new services, resource sharing, collaboration towards a common goal (coalitions, associations…)

Upscaling – increasing the impact and/or outreach of an innovation. E.g. increasing production, adding new products or services, outreach to new markets or communities, open-source knowledge sharing…

The Innovation Portraits provide us with an important reflection of the food system transition, in that many innovations are still early on in their maturing process, and in addition to the passion and ambition of the innovator themselves, will require targeted support and enabling conditions to thrive.

Providing us with snapshots of diverse innovators per city region, the Innovation Portraits also offer us an opportunity to consider how the Innovation Ecosystems in these city regions look. For example:

• Which innovators have (potentially) complementary resources, products or services?
• Which partnerships can be formed?
• Which innovators have a common interest or goal?

In particular, these questions can open the door to opportunities for combining, stimulating activity in the local Innovation Ecosystem. Looking at long-term perspectives, upscaling is a key acceleration mechanism for innovations that are at a high level of maturity and wish to increase their reach and impact.

Discover all INNOVATORS at a glance here!

Opportunities for Change

The 90 cases highlighted by the Innovation Portraits provides not only an inspiring portfolio of the diverse innovations that are actively contributing to food system transition, but also an example of how individual action, by individual innovators, can kick-start the development of an innovation ecosystem. These innovation ecosystems are fundamental in challenging the status-quo of food systems, and can generate awareness, interest and engagement with change. Through supporting the innovators highlighted in these Innovation Portraits, the FoodSHIFT2030 consortium hopes to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon, circular and plant-based food system in Europe.

Download the Innovation Portrait brochure here.

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From last Friday, September 23 to Sunday, September 25, different gastronomic proposals, local initiatives, workshops, show-cookings and concerts came together in an event dedicated to #foodsustainablebcn.

FoodShift 2030 was no exception, with a stand dedicated to #technological innovation FabLab Barcelona, ??which belongs to the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, shared with visitors how technology can help us redesign food production processes to make them more more effective and more holistic using the #circulareconomy, based on #morevegetableprotein, less and less on animal protein, taking advantage of local resources and thus being able to reduce CO2 emissions. 

With innovations in different parts of the value chain, ranging from production, such as a pilot for the production of fresh spirulina called Gaia espirulina, the production of fresh sprouts for restaurants and local consumption such as Villagreens, the production of ferments from the hand of Domingo club, a club with the aim of teaching how to prepare tempe to urbanites from Barcelona and from all over the world. (We were even honored to have a visit from Driando from @tempemovement A movement that aims to spread the love for tempe(h), Indonesia’s best kept secret for producing affordable, nutritious and sustainable food)

The production of ferments for the restaurant sector such as Ma Condiments, until the end of the chain, using waste from the food industry as Naifactory did, which by reusing olive pits has designed a Biomaterial that has been called Reolivar and with which they manufacture decorative elements, packaging and graphic communication elements with the advantage of using them once the material has been pulverized and re-processing it for a new use.

Innovators: Maud Bausier and Antoine Jaunard with Diaandro Ahnan

Within the innovations we can also find initiatives to support the food transition from the education sector, such as POWAR and NUMID, which have educational workshops where they teach us to use technology to produce our own food.

It was a space to share accompanied by good food, music and drinks to enjoy more consciously: a proposal with local and healthy food, made with sustainable practices.

To know more on the event:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci2yIOdoso-/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY%3D

Link to the event page: https://foodshift2030.eu/event/barcelona-sustainable-food-festival/

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EU FOOD 2030 Project Family, by the numbers! 

Following up on the previous introduction to the EU FOOD 2030 Project Family and the five founding EU funded projects, FoodSHIFT 2030, FoodE, Food Trails, Fusilli and Cities 2030 comes a ‘by the numbers’ summary of the scale of this international mutli-actor network. Starting with over 50 million EUR being collectively awarded to the five projects from the EU Horizon programme.  

The highly diverse, multi-national EU FOOD 2030 Project Family includes over 140 funded partners operating in 26 countries. The five consortia are each different in their structure, but all have the same fundamental need for wide range of partners resulting in the representation of all types of food system actors including; start-ups, SMEs, NGOs, municipalities, governmental bodies, advocacy agents, researchers, collectives, producers, retailers, citizens policy-makers and impact investors. 

Of even more significance is the inclusion of 50 unique city-regions in 21 countries that have each received have funding for local innovators, initiatives, and in some cases, living labs. These city regions within the EU FOOD 2030 Project Family are listed below by country:  

• The highest representation is 8 Italian city-regions (Bari, Bergamo, Bologna, Milan, Naples, Rome, Turin and Vicenza) 
• Next are 6 Spanish city-regions (Barcelona, Castelo Branco, Quart De Poblet, Sabadell, San Sebastian and Tenerife) 
• The Netherlands and France each have 4 city-regions  (Amsterdam, Groningen, Haarlem and Lansingerland) and (Avignon, Bordeaux, Grenoble and Romainville) 
• 2 city-regions for Belgium (Bruges, Ostend), Croatia (Rijeka, Velika Gorica), Finland (Seinäjoki, Tampere) and Germany (Berlin, Bremerhaven) 
• 2 city-regions also for Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki), Norway (Longyearbyen, Oslo), Poland (Warsaw, Wroclaw), Romania (Brasov, Ia?i) and Slovenia (Ljubliana, Murska Sobota) 

• Finally 1 city-region for Tirana in Albania, Troodos in Cyprus, Vidzeme in Latvia, Differdange in Luxembourg, Funchal in Portugal, Nilufer in Turkey and Birmingham In The United Kingdom. 

You can view all of the FOOD 2030 Project Family City-Regions on this map, and, there is plenty more where that came from as these figures are yet to include individual innovators, network organisations nor fellow/cascade cities of which there are many! 

Published by Luke Schafer 

FoodSHIFT 2030 Scientific Project Manager  

https://foodshift2030.eu/ 

https://foode.eu/ 

https://foodtrails.milanurbanfoodpolicypact.org/ 

https://fusilli-project.eu/ 

https://cities2030.eu/ 

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EU FOOD 2030 Project Family, an introduction

The EU FOOD 2030 Project Family is a collaboration of five EU Horizon projects coordinating synergistic cross-project initiatives towards a sustainable transformation of the European food system aligned with European Commission’s FOOD 2030 and Farm to Fork Strategy.

This collaboration is a self-coordinated approach with project representatives attending quarterly planning meetings with an alternating project host and FoodSHIFT 2030 project hosted the latest EU FOOD 2030 Project Family quarterly planning meeting. Some of the joint cross-project initiatives include under development:

Producing joint webinars where key expertise and best practices from city-regions shared across the five projects and brought to public audiences

Expanding our collective reach by developing cross-project strategies for communication and dissemination and considerations for a joint Horizon Results Booster application.

Maximizing the impact of accumulative project legacy items with considerations for a joint EU FOOD 2030 Project Family Manifesto

Translating FOOD 2030 communications and key project messages into policy directives for the EU in the form of a providing a joint advocacy statement to the European Commission’s Sustainable EU food system initiatives open consultation for legislative framework for sustainable food systems.

This cross-project approach will be active for the foreseeable future and thereafter, it is the ambition that the Project Family is continuously carried forward by newly funded projects. Thus, providing a fundamental link enabling the pooling of synergistic expertise, outputs and tools that increase EU funding efficiency and have greater collective influence on the transformation of the European Food System.

Published by Luke Schafer

FoodSHIFT 2030 Scientific Project Manager

https://foodshift2030.eu/

https://foode.eu/

https://foodtrails.milanurbanfoodpolicypact.org/

https://fusilli-project.eu/

https://cities2030.eu/

https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/research-area/environment/bioeconomy/food-systems/food-2030_en

https://food.ec.europa.eu/horizontal-topics/farm-fork-strategy_en

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