As a global community, we urgently need to reimagine how our food systems work to ensure both human and planetary health. The Innovative Food System Solution (IFSS) portal aims to spotlight innovative solutions that tackle reducing malnutrition and restore & protect the environment in an equitable way.
Through the IFSS portal key actors across the food supply chain - entrepreneurs, food producers, researchers, policy makers, businesses, students, NGOs, investors, and others - can explore food system solutions, connect with funding, identify high-potential investments, learn about upcoming events & opportunities, and find resources & tools that move innovative solutions towards uptake for major impact.
Solutions included in the portal span the food supply chain and include policies, technologies, nature-based solutions, public/private collaborations, financial solutions, education, and social equity approaches. Solution “profiles” are strengthened by concrete examples (case studies, projects, business models) in specific real-world settings (with an emphasis on vulnerable communities and LMICs) that are shared to enable collaboration around solutions with particular criteria in mind for a specific context.
The portal initiative is an ongoing open collaboration between groups working at the intersection of nutrition, sustainable agriculture, development economics, policy studies and environmental health. The initial portal content came from research projects coordinated by GAIN/the Alliance of Bioversity-CIAT/EAT, CSIRO’s Food Systems and Global Change group, and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.
Building on interest and momentum leading up to the UN Food System Summit and other global initiatives in 2021, the portal rises to the challenge of bringing a wide range of key food system actors together around innovative solutions and meets the specific demand of helping to move ideas towards actions, with tools and resources to map out pathways to impact by 2030.
How can you use the IFSS portal?
The portal has been designed to allow users to search and filter for examples of existing solutions at work in real world contexts, as well as to actively encourage new submissions of innovative solutions from around the world.
The IFSS portal includes a “backcasting” tool to help users imagine and describe how a specific solution could have major positive impact(s) by 2030, and better understand the what, when and how of moving a solution (or set of solutions) towards uptake.
The portal provides a unique and inclusive public platform that helps link sectors to engage in exciting, actionable ways with each other to tackle pressing problems affecting us all. Users can connect directly through the platform, as well browse relevant events and opportunities to participate in around the world.
The rich criteria filters and searchable content efficiently contextualizes information based on what each user is interested in. This allows individuals and teams to evaluate “good fit” solutions - and possible funding matches - for actionable uptake of innovations to meet their priorities.
