D5.1 Executive Report on State of Practice of Research Translation in Food Tech
The food industry is a highly interesting context to study recent changes in how knowledge is developed and used. These changes primarily relate to a turn away from the traditional concept of “knowledge transfer” (from university to practice) towards more complex conceptualizations of how scientific knowledge is created and used in socio-technical network structures, often referred to as “innovation systems”, “innovation ecosystems” or “entrepreneurial ecosystems”, involving a range of diverse social actors, institutions, and physical resources. The reconfiguration of diffusion of knowledge from a linear to a network-based practice, the societal demand for a transition to more sustainable practices, and the accelerating technological development have significantly changed (and challenged) the traditional understanding of how knowledge is developed among actors, for example, from cooperative relationships between universities and companies. In this deliverable, we first define the field of FoodTech. We then review the concept of “knowledge transfer” and outline how it differs from the emerging concept of “knowledge translation”, which we argue have a stronger potential for enhancing our understanding of how scientific knowledge is transformed into viable commercial solutions. Drawing on the knowledge translation framework, we then illustrate the state-of-play in the field of FoodTech-related innovation with a focus on practices and processes. We draw on experiences from agri-food systems in Denmark, Italy, Norway, and Spain, some of which have been gained through the UIC experiences in the OpenInnoTrain project. Based on the country-level examples we conclude that contemporary knowledge creation and application in FoodTech needs to be recognised as an integrated element of more complex knowledge and innovation systems. FoodTech can contribute to the development of social, economic, and environmentally sustainable solutions, especially when innovation is based on close interaction with actors throughout supply chains from ‘”arm to fork”, as well as on cross-disciplinary collaboration involving multiple scientific disciplines and other knowledge providers.
