Food 2.0: Innovations for Sustainable Growth –
Where Academia Meets Industry

The Food 2.0 project is driven by a vision of a nature-smart food system that balances ecological wisdom with economic growth for the good of people. The goal is a resilient and interconnected ecosystem where novel technologies, sustainable production methods, and reformed value chains collectively shape the future of food.

As circular economy practices – such as waste reduction, resource optimization, and material repurposing – become essential pillars of modern food production, we face a question: how can we effectively turn research and innovation into real-world solutions? This article reflects the learnings from the Food 2.0 first annual seminar on March 2025.

The Knowledge Chasm: Identifying the Gap

Despite the vast amount of valuable research generated in academia, much of it struggles to make its way into industrial use. Why does this gap exist and what could be done about it?

For one, the industry might be unaware of the research conducted in academia. As a result, studies remain at a theoretical level, and valuable knowledge is lost.

For another, the needs of industry don’t always reach the academia. This can lead to the research not aligning with real market needs, and innovations being left without demand.

Currently, public funding is mostly available for research at low technology readiness levels (TRL). As projects move closer to the market, companies are expected to take a more active role. However, the risk at this stage is often considered too high. This is commonly referred to as the “valley of death” – the phase where major investment is needed, but investors shy away due to the risk involved.

In essence, much depends on networks – on relationships between academia and industry.

Bridging the Gap

In order to tackle the loss of knowledge or fear of investing, a rapid-fire pitch session was piloted at the Valio Food 2.0 first annual seminar, in which PhD students presented their doctoral research projects.

The presentations offered a glimpse into the exciting developments within academia, with topics ranging from atmospheric water generation without electricity to cellular agriculture, oat protein utilization, and microbial lipids – highlighting collaboration opportunities.

Built on the same idea, Finnish Food RDI forum has been launched to strengthen the bond between academia and industry. By enabling early interaction between researchers, students, and companies, the forum aims to improve the cooperation within the food sector.

What are Companies Up To and How Could Academia Help?

Meaningful innovation is also taking place in industry and companies. Some promising initiatives are digital transformation with 3D printing, agricultural efficiency via nanobubble technology, and utilization of algae for high value food products or cellular agriculture.

Early academic involvement could accelerate the advancement of said initiatives – by building interdisciplinary teams that understand both scientific depth and market context.

As the pitch session provided knowledge from academia to industry, the same is needed vice versa – to communicate what is being developed, where support is needed, and what kind of expertise could make a difference.

Potential Value on a National Level

For some years Finnish food exports have been modest, and a strategic reform may be needed. As an example, Ireland successfully transformed its export sector by focusing on added value, sustainability branding, market expansion, and government-supported trade initiatives.

Finland could follow this example by enhancing transparency, strengthening public-private collaboration, and building a unified export strategy – some of which is already underway.

Ruokatieto Yhdistys ry – a Finnish non-governmental, non-profit inter-trade association – aims to increase Finnish food exports by fostering cross-sector collaboration, advancing innovation in new markets, and raising awareness of Finnish food culture and the ‘Hyvää Suomesta’ label through various export initiatives and platforms.

Food 2.0: Where It All Comes Together

Food 2.0 project has already gathered an ecosystem of more than 170 partners in its first year of existence. Veera Virtanen, Ecosystem lead of Food 2.0 at Valio, shared insights of what successful innovators have in common, based on a study conducted by Sweden Food Arena, which included interviews with over 1,300 actors in the Swedish food sector:

• A clear strategy for innovation
• Engaging external actors in the process
• Collaboration with academia and research institutes for more effective products and processes
• A strong market and growth focus
• A company culture promoting creativity, sustainability, and modernization

Business Finland’s co-innovation funding model intends to enable all of the above. In this model, companies run their own parallel projects that are linked both to the public research project and to each other. For instance, the NSF Global Center’s FoodID initiative coordinated by VTT has raised €10 million in co-funded projects focused on advancing cellular agriculture and hybrid foods.

Overall Business Finland is increasing public R&D funding to support sustainable growth and export, which can strengthen Finland’s position in the global food industry.

Conclusion: The Path Forward

By strengthening the cooperation between academic innovation with industrial application, we can ensure that our high-end research doesn’t remain in labs but instead fuels a resilient, sustainable, and competitive food economy.

We invite all companies to join public research projects – by contributing with their own R&D project or by participating in a steering, learning, or networking role. Companies that have not previously been involved in research consortia are especially welcome.

There are plenty of platforms available and the network is vast and growing. We can therefore explore and try all kinds of things, if only we allow ourselves to – so any good ideas you may have, please share them without hesitation, and let’s make them happen!