GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

Proposals should gather expertise from a broad range of disciplines and food system participants to obtain new insights and achieve a deepened and more comprehensive understanding of the data economy for food systems. The research that is conducted should go well beyond technology insights and include a holistic assessment of the state-of-play of the data economy, data driven innovation and data reuse in EU food systems, of the drivers, barriers and enablers of digital transformation, and of ongoing and expected trends, including behavioural. In their assessment of impact, proposals should include a review of the inclusiveness of the ongoing digital transformation in EU food systems (e.g. participation of micro-companies and SMEs, role of gender), and study the fairness of the data economy. The stakeholder dialogue should attract and involve players from all parts of the data value chain and representing different sectors and markets. Special care should be taken to involve SMEs, young entrepreneurs, young farmers, start-ups, cities and consumers, and to include relevant actors that are not directly linked to the food value chains. Proposals should develop a framework for the data economy in food systems, as a basis for monitoring its future development, its performance and impacts. Proposals should formulate recommendations (including technological, societal, economic, legal) for policy makers and other stakeholders that should take into account trends and opportunities that the research identified, that are expected to be important drivers of change in food systems, and for which improved governance, adapted legal frameworks, new policy initiatives and enhanced societal engagement can significantly increase the positive and mitigate the negative impacts of future changes.  These recommendations should also address the need for more exchange and reuse of data assets across parts of EU food systems, national boundaries and language barriers, public and private sectors, and for a wider adoption of data driven-innovations.