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The Food Systems Game Changers Lab

How might we build a better food future for everyone, everywhere?

Building a better food future, together.

Partners


          THE GOAL

          This is a call to action for those with hands in the soil, pans on the stove, and everyone in between to help transform the planet.

          THE GLOBAL OPEN CALL IS COMPLETE!
          THE SOLUTIONS ACCELERATOR PROGRAM HAS BEGUN

           

          In support of the United Nations’ first-ever Food Systems Summit, the Food Systems Game Changers Lab Global Open Call asked: How might we build a better food future for everyone, everywhere?

           

          We sought potential game-changing solutions—ideas, innovations, and initiatives—that could create systemic change to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The Global Open Call opened the doors for stakeholders around the world to join a global community of food systems solvers and be part of a movement. 

           

          We received 505 submissions from 85 countries. From a Brazilian company seeking to mainstream regenerative farming for the production of traditional pão de queijo cheese, to an Indian women-owned food processing model that aims to improve livelihoods and food security, to a global true cost accounting accelerator that wants to enable better outcomes that benefit people and nature, the diversity and transformative potential of these solutions is truly inspiring.

           

           

          After an assessment against the selection criteria by a group of nearly 100 experts and program collaborators, a number of these solutions were invited to join a cohort of similar solutions and advance into the next phase.

           

           

          In the next phase, the Solutions Accelerator Program, cohorts will work together to create an action agenda—a roadmap for scaling their solutions globally. These action agendas will support participants in converting promising solutions into game-changing ones, build consensus and collaboration, and take a systems approach to creating coalitions that can deliver real change. Cohorts will also have the opportunity to meet with investors and national and local governments poised to implement solutions at scale.

          What can you do next?

          1. Learn more about the program at the Game Changers Lab site

          2. View all 500+ submissions. Connect with the teams by commenting on their solutions (provide your information to connect, offer feedback, ask questions).

          3. Sign up here for updates about future programs.

          4. Get inspired and learn about food systems design by listening to IDEO’s Food by Design podcast

          We are inspired by the level of creativity and commitment to transforming our food systems. Keep it up!

           

          Learn more about the Program:

          About the Global Open Call

          Throughout late 2020 and early 2021, food systems experts and organizations in support of the UN Food Systems Summit called forward potential game-changing solutions from stakeholders around the world that could create systemic change to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The Global Open Call opens the doors for you to join this global community of food systems solvers and be part of a movement. For those who have already engaged in the Summit’s activities, it’s a way to build on your participation and access the Food Systems Game Changers Lab benefits. 

           

          If selected for the Food Systems Game Changers Lab, you’ll gain access to the knowledge and experience of people like you, eager to advance solutions to food systems challenges. You’ll also gain access to customized curricula that will help you build partnerships, deepen your systems mindset, and monitor systems change efforts. Your involvement could result in new resources, feedback, collaborators, and partnerships to move your ideas further. 

           

          Game Changers who move on to Phases 2-4 of the Food Systems Game Changers Lab will enter into a distinguished network equipped to provide mentorship, access to training, and systems thinking tools and experts to advance your game-changing solution. You will gain new skills in systems change and have the opportunity to bring your solutions to the global stage. There, you’ll be introduced to key investors committed to food systems transformation, as well as national and local governments poised to implement your solution at scale. You’ll build working coalitions and potentially receive funding to help put your game-changing solutions to work. 

          Who can Participate

          This is a purposefully open invitation. We’re casting the net wide to capture ideas at every stage, of any scale, from around the world. For this reason, Google Translate is built into this platform, so users can select their preferred language to view the text, including the submission form. Note: All answers on the submission form must be provided in English. We will provide translation support or connect those who need it with people who will help translate submissions.

           

          There are several qualities that will be crucial throughout the Food Systems Game Changers Lab. We’re looking for individuals, teams, and organizations who have ideas, innovations, or initiatives that could contribute to a better food future for everyone, everywhere. We’re looking for people who think systemically about feasible actions, which can be sustained over time and would shift the capacity of food systems to advance global goals for people, planet, and prosperity. We’re also looking for people who have the passion, grit, collaborative spirit, and determination required to take their solutions forward in partnership with others. 

           

          No matter how you’re involved with food—whether you provide, distribute, study, invent, or consume it; advocate for, invest in, make policy around, write about, or design for it—you’re invited to be part of the action. And part of the solution.

           

          Specifically, we hope to engage participants representing all of the following categories and more:

          • Farmers, Ranchers, Herders, Fish and Seafood Producers 
          • Food Distributors
          • Food Preparers
          • Food Consumers
          • Food Worker Unions
          • Food Start-ups & Food Entrepreneurs
          • Chefs and Restaurant Workers
          • Civil Society/Non-Profit Organizations
          • Universities 
          • Food Researchers
          • Students
          • Climate and Environmental Researchers and Advocates
          • Food Justice & Food Sovereignty Advocates
          • Food Banks
          • Human Rights Specialists
          • Grassroots Activists 
          • Public Institutions 
          • Data Scientists, AI Specialists, Software Engineers, Coders
          • Designers, Storytellers, Artists, and Creatives 
          • Scientists 
          • Social Entrepreneurs
          • Consumer Groups/Organizations
          • Technology Companies 
          • Investors
          • Companies of all shapes and sizes, from production to consumption and back
          • UN Member State Officials
          • City Officials

           

          Participants are not required to be registered as a legal entity (company, nonprofit, government) and can submit solutions as an individual or a team.

          Global Open Call Process

          Food Systems Game Changers Lab Phase 1: Global Open Call, March 24 - May 25, 2021

          The Global Open Call, launched on March 24, 2021, is a 10-week engagement during which you’ll be asked to develop and work through the details of your solution. For the purposes of the Food Systems Game Changers Lab, a solution is an idea, initiative, or innovation that has the potential to bring positive systemic change. We’re interested in solutions in all stages of readiness—from ideas to prototypes to fully implemented—and at all scales—from local to city, country, region, and global.

           

          Submissions to the Global Open Call are due on May 25, 2021, and winners—who will move on to the Food Systems Game Changers Lab Phase 2: Solution Cohorts—will be announced the week of June 7, 2021. Phase 2 is the bridge that can link the solution you create and hone during the Global Open Call to the people who can help make that solution a reality at a global scale.

          Ideation

          For this challenge, you will be asked to answer the question: How might we build a better food future for everyone, everywhere?

          You’ll be guided by questions on the Global Open Call submission form, and receive support from the Open Call design team, community managers, and other participants via the platform.

           

          You’ll also be asked to (see the 'Impact Areas' tab for details):

          • Align your solution with one of 5 UN Food Systems Summit Action Tracks.

          • Indicate your availability to participate and collaborate in the Food Systems Game Changers Lab, hosted by Thought for Food.

          • Identify three statements about the future of food you aim to make a reality by 2030. 

          • Write a brief headline and description that explains what your solution would look like if implemented to its full potential by 2030.

          • Identify three stakeholder groups whose lives will be made better by your solution, and how your solution responds to their needs.

          • Describe how your solution furthers equity, inclusion, and the realization of human rights.

          • Give evidence that shows that your solution could work.

          • Identify an action you might take in the next three years—and the partners you’ll need.

          • Identify what will be needed to make your solution work long-term (2030).

          You’ll meet people who are passionate about food and food systems, and you’ll engage with a community of experts and innovators throughout the 8-week phase. You’ll also learn about what's happening in food systems all around the world and find inspiration in what others are doing. Your submission will be seen by thousands of people and you’ll be able to comment, post, and “like” the solutions of others. 

          Selection 

          A panel of experts and peers will review all submissions over 2 weeks and select finalists based on selection criteria. Global Open Call winners will be announced the week of June 7, 2021 and immediately be invited to join Phase 2: Food Systems Game Changers Lab: Solution Cohorts, hosted by Thought For Food.  

          What Happens Next

          Food Systems Game Changers Lab Phase 2: Solutions Accelerator Program, June - September 2021

          The second phase of the Food Systems Game Changers Lab will support the formation of global “Solution Cohorts,” and equip these cohorts with the mindsets, tools, and connections they need to think and act within complex, interconnected food systems. The Lab will offer facilitation, learning resources, expert coaching, live sessions, and tailored mentorship programs with global experts in the lead-up to the UN Food Systems Summit and beyond, enabling the cohorts to co-develop Action Agendas for systems change in their respective solution areas. These Action Agendas will be featured in a flagship publication alongside the Summit.

          Food Systems Game Changers Lab Phase 3: Matchmaking alongside the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit

          Phase 3 of the Food Systems Game Changers Lab will support the Solution Cohorts in taking their Action Agendas forward by helping to match them with national, regional, and local governments; corporate partners; investors; and other supportive actors. The goal is for each Solution Cohort to walk away with committed partners with whom they form “Solution Coalitions.”

          Food Systems Game Changers Lab Phase 4: Solution Coalitions

          After the Summit, each newly formed Solution Coalition will evolve and pilot or scale their Action Agendas by simulating, testing, and exploring the application of their particular solution. Identifying and removing the barriers to systems change are the focus of this final, post-Summit phase of the Food Systems Game Changers Lab.

          Background

          The world’s food systems are complex and absolutely crucial to human survival. The journey of food from farm to plate impacts our economies, climates, environment, human rights, education, political stability, cultures, and of course, our health. And when you look at food systems data and projections into the future, there’s ample cause for concern. A ballooning population, changing climates, unchecked pollution, growing inequities, exploitation and human rights abuses, and vulnerabilities to public health crises are putting more pressure on our fragile food systems. But there is also cause for hope. Food can provide a better opportunity for everyone, everywhere. Food systems can protect the environment, create equitable livelihoods, celebrate diversity and culture. And they can feed the world healthy, affordable, and delicious diets. 

           

          In 2015, world leaders agreed to 17 Global Goals known as the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs. These goals have the power to build a better world by 2030, by ending poverty, fighting inequality and addressing the urgency of climate change. Good Food for All forms the foundation for all of the SDGs. Without good food, no other progress is possible. To that end, the United Nations Secretary-General is hosting the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit to spearhead transformation of our world’s food systems to achieve all these goals for people, planet, and prosperity by 2030. 

           

          Solving challenges as complex and urgent as those posed by today’s food systems will require global collaboration across regions, borders, and all types of food system stakeholders. Now is the time for bold action. Systems change demands a new approach: new minds working together in brave new ways to build the resilient and inclusive world that we need; one in which food systems promote dignity and human and planetary health. 

           

          Can you be a food system Game Changer?

          Anyone who provides or consumes food—i.e. everyone—has firsthand understanding of their food system—its failings, its needs, and its opportunities. From that understanding can spring previously unimagined ideas that can change the game and catalyze global transformation. That’s why we’re inviting everyone to share their ideas, initiatives, and innovations with us through the Global Open Call.

          The Opportunity

          The Food Systems Game Changers Lab: Global Open Call opens the doors for you to join a global community of food systems solvers, and be part of a movement. 

           

          If selected for the Food Systems Game Changers Lab, you’ll gain access to the knowledge and experience of people like you, eager to advance solutions to food systems challenges—and have the opportunity to bring your solutions to the global stage. 

           

          You’ll gain access to customized curricula that will help you build partnerships, deepen your systems mindset, and monitor systems change efforts. As part of a cohort of people, teams, and organizations with complementary solutions, your ideas will be featured in a flagship publication, and you’ll be able to put your solution forward for matching with potential implementation partners or investors at the time of the Summit. Your involvement could result in new resources, feedback, collaborators, and partnerships to move your ideas further. 

           

          Being selected for Phase 2 of the Food Systems Game Changers Lab directly following this Global Open Call gives you access to:

          • Tailored mentorship and expertise 

          • Others with similar solution types (e.g., digital technology, financial innovation, behavior change)

          • Others with similar impact goals (e.g., improved diets)

          • Systems thinking curricula, tools, and experts

          • Inclusion in a flagship publication 

          • Prospective investors and implementing partners like national and city-based governments, etc.

          Partners

          Challenge Journey

          Ideation Phase
          Completed
          Selection Phase
          Completed
          5. Top Ideas
          Sep 9, 2021

           Published on: March 24, 2021

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