Living Lab with regional LAGs

09 August 2022

LIVING LAB WITH REGIONAL LOCAL ACTION GROUPS

Sustainable Development Agency for Brasov County

Brasov, Romania

THE INNOVATION:

To improve innovation in Brasov County, the local Sustainable Development Agency is putting innovation on the food production agenda through a multi-level governance approach. With this approach, the agency hopes to encourage and integrate food innovation, particularly in rural areas surrounding Brasov. This is being implemented through the set-up of six Local Action Groups dealing with local food producers to address context-specific practical needs. This approach is included in a wider proposal for the set-up of Living Labs with key stakeholders in the region to support local food innovations and disseminate good practices. The proposal will also support urban-rural connections to lead to sustainable rural development with food at the center.

LOOKING AHEAD:

The project aims to boost the rural food production sector by creating links with urban stakeholders and institutes (combining). The long-term ambition is that these connections will mature and eventually facilitate a circular urban rural economy.

 

 

More Information:
Contact Person: Luciana Glica
Email: [email protected]

Info about the Innovators and the Innovation portraits Catalogue

FoodSHIFT 2030 aims to launch an ambitious citizen-driven transition of the European food system towards a low carbon circular future, including a shift to less meat and more plant based diets. This transition is necessary in order to address the pressing challenges for food and nutrition security, contribute to the EU commitment of reducing GHG emissions by at least 40% by 2030, and revitalize urban-rural linkages and partnerships.

To do so, it establishes FoodSHIFT Accelerator Labs for maturing, combining, upscaling and multiplying existing food system innovations across nine front-runner city-regions. In turn these innovations contribute to the FoodSHIFT vision.

An Innovation Catalogue called “Innovation Portraits” was created to snapshot each of the Food Innovations connected with each of the FoodSHIFT Accelerator Labs (FALs) across the 9 city regions.

Info about the Innovation Portraits Catalogue

The Innovation Catalogue will snapshot each of the Food Innovations connected with each of the FoodSHIFT Accelerator Labs (FALs) across the 9 city regions. Each FAL has a dedicated innovation focus and each chapter will present innovation cases from a particular FAL. For each of the innovations presented, a snapshot of the innovation concept and purpose will be given, alongside the key impacts the innovation has in relation to the FoodSHIFT Impact Pathways and the acceleration ambitions of the innovation.

In addition, each innovation portrait is also categorized according to its Innovation Dimension. These dimensions indicate what kind of innovation is being presented, and where in the value chain it plays a role. This is indicated by these tabs. The dimensions are defined as follows:

Product – Innovations in this category address new or updated products, including quality, safety and market impact.

Process – These innovations are relevant to new technologies for processing, logistical improvements, infrastructure and new/improved services.

Social – Innovations in this category are relevant to changes in behaviour (e.g. consumers/citizens), development of new relationships and inclusiveness.

Governance – The innovations address policy developments, including food planning, subsidies, taxing, certificates & labelling.

Learn more about all the Innovation portraits: https://foodshift2030.eu/meet-the-people-changing-your-food-system/

 

Innovators

Our local FoodSHIFT Accelerator Labs (FALs) have each identified 10 inspiring innovators from their city region that have developed sustainable solutions for the improvement of the food system in their area. Across these 90 innovators, there are diverse initiatives that are unique examples of how a food system can be transformed from the inside-out; ranging from Community Supported Agriculture, roof-top beekeeping, to fermented food projects. Read more information in the Innovation Portraits Knowledge Hub Post and view the full snapshot profiles of these innovators are provided in the Innovation Portraits.

FELLOW CITIES

Through the development of events, tool kits and resources in collaboration with research partners, the FoodSHIFT Accelerator Labs will share their approaches and inspire us all to join a food systems shift.