Transforming food systems is one of the most urgent challenges for building healthier, more inclusive, and more resilient cities and regions. Two European projects – FOODCLIC and TRUSTFOOD – tackle this challenge from complementary perspectives: the former through social and territorial innovation, the latter through the power of digital technologies. Together, they demonstrate that change begins at the intersection of community and innovation.
A Shared Vision, Two Complementary Approaches
FOODCLIC and TRUSTFOOD align on this vision, each advancing it through distinct yet complementary means. FOODCLIC, a Horizon Europe project, aims to create healthier, more sustainable, and inclusive urban food environments through an approach deeply rooted in local territories and communities. Its philosophy is based on the CLIC Framework, a conceptual model that integrates four key dimensions for transforming food systems:
- Fostering sustainability co-benefits (social, economic, environmental);
- establishing linkages between urban and rural areas, as well as between land and water, to enhance rural-urban food systems;
- ensuring the inclusion of all food system stakeholders and actors;
- establishing or reinforcing connectivities between food and other complex systems and policy areas.
At the same time, TRUSTFOOD, a Digital Europe project, uses digital innovation—specifically Blockchain—to make food supply chains more transparent, traceable, and sustainable. By providing a secure, decentralised way to store and share data, Blockchain helps verify where food comes from, how it was produced, and under which social and environmental conditions. This creates more trust among producers, retailers, consumers, and regulators, and supports a fairer and more sustainable food system.
Communities at the Core
FOODCLIC stems from the idea that food system transformation cannot be imposed from the top down but must start within local communities and their specific contexts. This place-based approach takes shape through Living Labs, real territorial laboratories that become spaces for experimentation and co-creation. Here, citizens, local authorities, businesses, associations, and researchers work together to design solutions that respond to the actual needs of the territory.
In parallel, TRUSTFOOD recognises that farmers and agri-food SMEs are at the core of quality food production, yet they are often excluded from cutting-edge technologies and global value chains. Sustainable producers, in particular, struggle to demonstrate their added value and to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. TRUSTFOOD addresses this gap by making digital tools—and especially Blockchain-based solutions—more accessible to local actors. In doing so, it helps shift consumer purchasing power towards sustainable, transparent, and ethically produced food.
Innovation Beyond Technology
FOODCLIC addresses a crucial challenge: transforming urban and peri-urban food systems in a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient way. The underlying belief is that change cannot be standardized but must emerge from the practices, needs, and innovative capacities of communities. For this reason, FOODCLIC promotes co-creation processes where citizens, institutions, businesses, and civil society collaborate actively. Innovation, in this context, is not only technological but also social, institutional, and cultural:
- Social, because it places people—especially the most vulnerable—at the center, ensuring fair access to healthy and sustainable food.
- Institutional, because it fosters new forms of food governance that are more transparent and participatory, capable of overcoming fragmented competences and integrating food into urban policies.
- Cultural, because it values local identities and traditional practices, embedding them in development strategies that look to the future without losing their roots.
This community logic mirrors TRUSTFOOD’s approach to skills and innovation. TRUSTFOOD adopts a community-based approach to skills and innovation, with the primary objective of developing and strengthening advanced digital skills among people in the agri-food labour force—focusing on SMEs and also including job seekers and other workers. The project offers highly practical, hands-on training courses tailored to different stakeholder groups, such as business owners, employees, food professionals, and technology providers, so they can understand and apply Blockchain in real food production and distribution contexts. Rather than imposing one-size-fits-all solutions, TRUSTFOOD works with local communities and regional stakeholders to co-design training content and pilot activities. This ensures that the digital tools and methods reflect local realities, cultural practices, and specific needs of smallholders and SMEs. By empowering local actors to understand, adapt, and own these technologies, the project helps them become more competitive in the global market while maintaining their identity and values.
Living Labs and Digital Hubs: Spaces for Change
The operational core of FOODCLIC lies in eight Living Labs established in European cities and regions such as Amsterdam, Aarhus, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Brasov, Lisbon, and Lucca. These laboratories are not mere discussion tables but dynamic ecosystems where concrete interventions are tested: local markets and short supply chains to reduce the distance between producers and consumers; urban gardens and green spaces integrated into urban planning; circular economy models to reduce waste and valorize surplus; and urban regeneration initiatives that connect food, health, and social inclusion. Each real-life intervention is co-designed with the community, tested in real conditions, and monitored to assess its social, environmental, and economic impact. This process generates scientific evidence and practical tools that feed into local and national policies, proving that participation is not a rhetorical exercise but a tangible lever for change.
On the digital front, the community character of TRUSTFOOD comes to life most clearly in the TRUSTFOOD Innovation Hub (TFIH), an open virtual platform developed by the project partners. TFIH serves as a meeting point and resource centre for everyone involved in or interested in the agri-food and digital sectors. On the open part of the Hub, anyone can access non-protected project knowledge, practical resources, training materials, and information on job opportunities, funding schemes, and support programmes. Special attention is given to young researchers, entrepreneurs, women, and vulnerable groups, to ensure that the digital transition in the food sector is inclusive and socially just. A restricted section of the Hub is dedicated to key stakeholders such as prestige members, Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs), policymakers, and other strategic partners. There, more advanced or sensitive knowledge, policy insights, and innovative tools can be shared to support long-term planning, regulation, and large-scale collaboration.
FOODCLIC also invests in building food policy networks and digital tools that strengthen dialogue between public and private actors. The European platform for Food Policy Networks (FPNs) developed by the project is designed to connect food networks, multi-stakeholder groups, cities, and communities, fostering the exchange of experiences, knowledge, and the replication of models adapted to different contexts. In this way, innovations and expertise do not remain isolated but become shared assets and drivers for more integrated and participatory policies, aligned with the goal of fair and resilient food systems.
Complementing this institutional and network dimension, TFIH also functions as a showcase for local food organisations that adopt innovative, alternative, and sustainable solutions for food production. These might include short supply chains, circular economy practices, regenerative agriculture, or community-supported agriculture models. By highlighting these examples, TRUSTFOOD amplifies local success stories and inspires replication and adaptation in other regions. Additionally, the Hub gives visibility to local Blockchain and ICT companies that wish to serve the wider agrifood sector. This creates a direct link between technology providers and food producers, enabling them to co-create tailored solutions instead of relying on generic, top-down platforms. External SMEs and food businesses are invited to join the Hub, submit their profiles, share experiences, and present new ideas and tools. The experiences, feedback, and solutions shared through the Hub continuously feed back into the training courses and project activities. This creates a dynamic learning loop: trainees become contributors, local experiments become knowledge resources, and communities across different European countries learn from each other. In this way, TRUSTFOOD does not only transfer knowledge; it builds a living, evolving community of practice around digital innovation and sustainable food systems. Through this strongly community-based approach, TRUSTFOOD supports local actors in mastering advanced digital skills, helps them harness Blockchain for transparency and trust, and ultimately contributes to fairer, more resilient, and more transparent food systems in Europe and beyond.
Building Trust and Belonging
Community-based innovation, as interpreted by FOODCLIC, is transformative because it builds trust, reinforces a sense of belonging, and turns citizens from passive consumers into active agents of change. It does not merely transfer knowledge but develops collective capacities, enables new relationships, and creates the conditions for food systems that are fairer, more transparent, and more resilient. In this way, every action becomes meaningful, and every actor—from citizens to policymakers—plays a role in shaping a more just food future.
Two Paths, One Common Goal
FOODCLIC and TRUSTFOOD tackle the same challenge from different angles: the former focuses on participation and territorial governance, while the latter emphasizes transparency and digital innovation. Both share a core belief: change cannot be imposed from the top down—it must emerge from communities and their capacity to innovate.
Together, these projects show that the future of food will be fairer, more sustainable, and more resilient if we can unite the power of relationships with the potential of technology. Because every action matters, and every actor—from citizens to policymakers—can play a role in shaping this transformation.
WRITTEN BY CHIARA LEALI (TRUSTFOOD) AND SOFIA SICILIA (FOODCLIC)
