Food Hubs To Tackle Malnutrition

Because of inefficient food systems, there is a 20% decline in the global availability of nutrients. As the major ღdriver of global greenhouse gas emissions, food systems contribute up to a third of the total emissions, resulting in an urgent need to explore opportunities and innovative approaches to accelera♑te sustainable transformations. 

Malnutrition has two faces: On one side, nearly 150 million children under the age of five are stunted and on the other, more than 2 billion people are overweight or obese, as populations suffer from both nutrient deficiencies and excesses. With this double burden on nutrition and our continually diminishing ability to nourish our people, we face an unprecedented global health crisis. What s🔯olutions do we have?

• Food Systems Innovation Hubs

To end all forms of malnutrition, we need to enable environment-friendly food systems that are local, resilient and responsive. “We believe that the power for this transformation – from struggling food systems t🧸o a robust machinery that enables society-wide healthier dietary shifts – lies in Fo🌄od Systems Innovation Hubs,” says Kalpana Beesabathuni, Global Lead of Technology😼 and Entrepreneurship at Sight and Life, a global nutrition think tank that is championing such innovation hubs in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC✅s).  

In a country like India, a Food System Innovation Hub (FSIH) will be able to mould itself to the needs of the country and communities by engaging directly with its people, culture, en💦trepreneurial talent, and unique climate. This will be achieved by focusing on four key actions:

• Catalyze product innovation so that tasty, environment-friendly and nutritious foods are widely available 

• Shape markets to ensure that nutritious foods are affordable and accessible to the last mile 

• Deploy new technology to track safe and efficient supply chains

• Foster food systems champions at the highest levels through leadership training  

Scaling these innovations will require capital, as well as a platform to connect stakeholders and facilitate the transfer of technology and know-how. We need to encourage exceptional, well-established food and technology companies with market prowess to expand into India, with the goal of aligning with a range of investors developing and testing new innovations and creating livelihoods. “FSIH is a platform to come together and insp♓ire innovation, investment, collaboration and consumer interest,” says Beesabathuni. 

• Types of Innovation Hubs

Sight and Life has mapped different types of innovation hubs based on their coverage, capa﷽city and capabilities that can be broadly categorized into 8 archetypes.

• 1. Science and technology parks: Subsidize research and development (R&D) costs for companies and eventually foster collaboration and c🔯apital between industry and𓆏 universities.
• 2. Research centres: Combine infrastructure and talent to unlock and take to market the next big scientifi✤c brౠeakthrough. 
• 3. Advanced development spaces: Asset-heavy institutions that support R&D, commercialization, technology applications, testing, product desig🥂n, and prototyping. 
• 4. Incubators: Institutions that support entrepreneurs in developingꦏ their businesses, espe🍬cially in the initial stages. 
• 5. Accelerators: Programs and spaces that provide the environmenඣt, expertise, networks, and r✃esources to take ideas to scale. 
• 6. Innovation districts: Geographic areas where leading-edge anchor institutions and compani𝓰es cluster and connect with start-ups, business incubators, and accelerators. 
• 7. Virtual hubs: Digital platforms and communities that provide networking, training, and acceleration opp⛄ortunitieღs, transcending borders. 
• 8. Nodes: Central points in the ecosystem. Nodes🃏 typically have a regional presence but aim for global collaboration and impact. 

@Anne Milan

• The need for Innovation Hubs

Not only are food systems complex; each is also unique to the geography and culture it is supposed to nourish. The highly adaptable Innovation Hubs acknowledge that a one-size-fits-all solution does🤪 not exist, and that app෴roaches used by high income countries cannot be expected to work in the same way for LMICs.

The transformation of underperforming food systems lies in innovation hubs. A hub becomes a cohesive place for all innovations in the food systems space; these innovations are also made widely available and replicable. In India, a FSIH can be a platform to nurture young food and nutrition entrepreneurs who do not have access to technical advice or s𝐆eed funding. 

In an LMIC such as India, with country ownership, diverse actors in the food system will collaborate and con🍃nect with existing models and build a cohesive food systems innovation hub for scale and sustainability. Beesabathuni outlines three key actions with which this can be achieved:

• Inspire! 

Hubs can enc♍ourage outstanding food and technology companies to expand into the country, with the goal of growing market int🍎erest, aligning with a range of investors, and developing and testing new products.

• Invest! 

Hubs can fac💦ilitate investment in local companies that have the potential to scale, as well as in technology transfer, nuꦜtrition, food safety, and consumer studies to demonstrate market viability and identify latent demand for nutritious and safe foods.

• Innovate! 

Hubs stimulate innovation throughout the value chain in a manner tailored to LMIC markets like India and draw additional investment into scaling up and bringing in n﷽ew technologies. This will be especially impactful to the SMEs and start-ups that dominate food production in these markets today. 

FSI﷽H is a bold initiative that will accelerate investment, streamline processes, support nature-positive, biodiverse agriculture, build sustainable supply chains, advance equitable livelihoods and create a consumer pull for healthy foods to better nouri🌸sh nations and communities.

To know more about FSIH, what they 𝐆can do and how, please refer to the scientific paper published by Sight and Life for the UN Food Systems Summit: