Testbed sustainable food and digital innovative solutions

Purpose and goal

The overarching goal with this project has been to investigate the need and possibilities of a testbed, focusing on sustainable products and services within the public food service. The background to this is the commitment to include more locally produced food within the school meal, as well as a need for innovators to have a space to create and try new products before it reaches the market. The need for innovation was considered high along the whole food supply chain. Through the participation in the RISE UDI2 application to Vinnova, we consider the goal of anchoring this idea accomplished.

Expected results and effects

The result of this project is the created network, the understanding of a test-process, the documented work of the testbeds preparing a project as well as the creation of open data from Södertälje municipality’s food data. The project has documented the utility and needs that a digital public testbed can address. The results of this project can already be seen in that students can use Södertälje Municipality open food data for essays, companies can investigate municipal food purchases as well as the jointly applied project funding from Vinnova in the UDI2 project with RISE.

Planned approach and implementation

The organisation and implementation of this project were based on the three defined active goals. We have arranged and attended relevant events to create a beneficial network. The cooperation with RISE (the UDI2 application) is an example of this networking activity. Suitable open data sets were identified and made available. Lastly, an intelligence analysis focusing on the work of other testbeds, other relevant projects along with municipal public procurement work has been generated.