Transforming European food Systems with multi-actor networks and living labs through the FoodSHIFT Approach

Our current global food system is facing extraordinary challenges in both size and severity, including a rise in unsustainable consumption behaviours, continued environmental degradation, growing food insecurity, and widening social inequalities. A food system transformation is now both critically important and overwhelmingly complex, requiring nothing less than a complete overhaul of the entire value chain. Everyone is needed: SMEs with technological solutions, NGOs with social innovations, researchers with novel methodologies, governments with food policy advancements, professionals with varying expertise, and last but not least, empowered and informed citizens with the ability and resources for better decision-making. Living Labs offer a holistic, place-based approach needed to facilitate multi-actor inputs on various levels, specifically Food System Living Labs (FSLLs) like the ones established as part of the FoodSHIFT 2030 Project. Nine front-runner Food System Living Labs were operationalised alongside a novel framework merging high-level interdisciplinary initiatives with a diverse set of innovative approaches towards food system transition. The FoodSHIFT Approach concept was praised by external evaluators for its ground-breaking framework, and the nearly completed project has been listed as a best practice. However, positive applications alone will not ensure a societal-wide food system transformation, and the following text offers a critical reflection coupled with experience-based solutions to further improve the FoodSHIFT Approach.