Numerous foresight studies have highlighted the need for a dietary transition to achieve a sustainable and healthy future, by reducing the consumption of animal-based foods and ultra-processed foods and increasing that of pulses, fruit and vegetables. However, the path to achieving this remains unclear, as access to food and food inequalities continue to pose a barrier to healthy eating (which is generally more expensive than conventional diets). In France, local citizens’ groups have formed a network to facilitate access to food and foster solidarity among consumers. Beyond global foresight, a transition towards healthy and equitable diets depends on concrete changes at the local level. Densely populated urban areas are ideal places to work together with citizens to imagine future changes.
This face-to-face workshop with citizens will focus on Territorializing food transition towards healthy diets and food justice by 2040. This workshop was co-designed with a local food organization, the 14th District Food Social Security (Paris).
With a group of 30-40 participants, various long-term scenarios will be developed and discussed in group sessions. The workshop will draw on a scenario-based approach grounded in morphological analysis and will explore three aspects of the transition: nutrition and dietary practices, food justice and solidarity, and supply chains. The workshop will examine current trends, weak signals and ongoing changes, including cultural, environmental and social dimensions, as well as the economic organisation of the food chain. The method incorporates social issues related to food. The outcomes will enable participants to develop shared visions of a future food transition and to envisage the territorial organisation of a food system that could be developed to achieve a desirable future.
The workshop is open to the general public. Everyone who wishes to contribute to the topic is welcome, drawing on the own experience of food of citizens and on the local actors of the food system.
The workshop is part of a series of “Eye of Europe” pilot activities taking place during 2026, aimed at exploring possible futures and their implications for research and innovation (R&I) policy.

EIT Food Consumer Observatory is organising online workshops focusing on the consumer acceptance of functional and processed food and alternative proteins by 2035. The online workshops are organised on September 11 and 18, from 10 to 13 hours CET. This is an open invitation to participate. It is free, just write us to consider your participation and learn more about the process: info@if-institute.org

What to expect in the workshops:
Before the workshops: Read this brief background document to familiarise yourself with the approach and prepare for the workshops.
During the workshops: Discuss and participate by writing your comments via MS Teams chat and the Miro board sticky notes. Note that the workshops will be recorded to enable automated transcription in Teams.
After the workshops: The expert team will develop scenario narratives, which are presented and discussed further in another workshop on November 4th 10-13 CET, which allows the reflection of scenario implications for the current agrifood ecosystem. Finally, a policy brief will be published end of the year.

Last year, we did a similar process focusing on the future of new food products and experiences and One Health. More information here:
https://if-institute.org/futures-of-food-consumption-in-2035-in-europe-on-sustainability-health-and-technology 

How will the city of tomorrow grow? How is food production changing in the future? In their new brochure “100+ Trends Cultivating Urban Agriculture”, Dr. Anna Kirstgen and Dr. Björn Moller from Fraunhofer ISI Foresight Department provide answers within the framework of the FOODCITYBOOST project – and show just how diverse and dynamic urban agriculture is becoming.

📌 Included in the brochure:
• A trend radar featuring over 100 key developments, offering a structured overview and strategic orientation on emerging trends and future perspectives
• 15 deep dives exploring key topics such as social innovations, new technologies, regulations, new business models, and ecological challenges like food waste

A compact overview for anyone involved in urban development, agricultural innovation, or sustainable food systems.

This report showcases the results of the two-round Dynamic Argumentative Delphi survey carried out within the project “S&T&I for 2050. Science, Technology and Innovation for Ecosystem Performance – Accelerating Sustainability Transitions”. The overarching ambition of this project is the “identification and mapping of future scientific and technological developments that can radically improve ecosystem performance”. The main outcome is to provide “reflections towards the 2nd Strategic Plan of Horizon Europe (HE), in its broad direction to support the Sustainable Development Goals.”

To this end, quantitative and qualitative methods were employed, among which this report refers to:  

• Patent and bibliometric analysis for selecting the most dynamic Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) domains; 
• Horizon scanning through web mining and human evaluation for identifying key STI directions and specific examples of technological/scientific breakthroughs within these directions; 
• Dynamic Argumentative Delphi engaging relevant experts from around the world in an argument-based exploration regarding the contribution of STI to the capability of ecosystems to flourish from now to 2050. 

This autumn, experts are developing alternative climate scenarios as part of a foresight project that helps prepare the 2nd Strategic Plan 2024-2027 of the Horizon Europe Framework Programme for R&I. The project is conducted by the “Foresight on Demand” Consortium on behalf of the European Commission, DG RTD. In a Deep Dive area “Climate change and R&I: from social change to geoengineering”, together with the other members of the expert team, I am developing, among others, this 'coalition of sustainable communities' scenario. Get involved, comment on the scenario and relate the scenario to recent developments!

Results for the working group Food are available at: http://foresight.cnr.it/working-groups/wg-food.html