FUSILLI project: living labs to design the food systems of the future

It is possible to eradicate hunger, take care of our health and heal the planet. Most of the answers to these problems depend on cities. The decisions we make on city level have great impact. But the transition to more sustainable food systems is not without challenges, how do cities cope with this profound change in our relationship with food?

It is clear that cities and peri-urban areas need help to overcome the obstacles impending this transition. This is what the FUSILLI initiative was created for. This new project supports cities to create more sustainable, healthy, inclusive and resilient food systems. Funded by the European Commission and coordinated by the CARTIF Technology Center, FUSILLI focuses on supporting cities to facilitate their transition towards more sustainable food systems, in line with the FOOD2030 priorities.

Living labs: an ecosystem of innovation 

The main objective of the FUSILLI project is to design an urban food plan to achieve a holistic, integrated and safe transition of our food systems. The way to do this is through innovative, viable and replicable urban policies, which help to implement actions for improvement along all stages of the value chain. These policies are aligned with the four principles of FOOD2030:

1. Nutrition for sustainable and healthy diets
2. Climate smart and environmentally sustainable food systems
3. Circularity and resource efficiency of food systems
4. Innovation and empowerment of communities

The FUSILLI project is formed by 34 partners from 13 countries, including cities, universities, SMEs, NGOs and large industries. With the launch of the initiative, the participants commit to work collaboratively on seven work packages in the next four years. FUSILLI puts 12 cities in a knowledge sharing and learning network to address the challenges of the food system transformation.  

Each of the 12 cities will create a Living Lab, an open innovation ecosystem with the objective to implement different innovative actions through all stages of the food chain, that will involve several stakeholders representing all the actors in the food system at local level. It will have at least a public authority, industry partner (SME or association), consumer association and an academic institution.