LOWINFOOD activities started on 1st November 2020 and ended in February 2025. LOWINFOOD includes a set of 15 “innovation tasks”, each of which focus on the demonstration of one innovation against food loss and waste in a specific context/food value chain (fruits&vegetables, bakery sector, fish, consumption). The evidence resulting from the demonstrations feeds the impact evaluation, along the methodology established by the actors of the project. These demonstrations started during the second year of the project and they were finalised by the fourth year of activity. After a pre-test, each innovation underwent implementation in the real environment of the demonstration, by integrating technological solutions against food loss and waste into the everyday practice of the actors involved, by favouring stakeholder dialogue and educational activities in the social innovations, and by putting actors together to implement new management and institutional practices, in the case of organisational solutions. during the demonstrations, there was a continuous interaction between innovators, food chain actors (companies or consumers) and academic partners, with the aim to monitor the advancement of the demonstration and the collection of the data needed to perform the evaluation of the innovations. Data was collected during the demonstration to feed the evaluation of the innovations, in terms of efficacy in reducgin food loss and waste, socio-economic impact and environmental impact. All the actors involved in the demonstrations collaborated to the data collection with a multi-actor approach. Data was collected before the start of the demonstration (baseline) and during the implementation of the innovations. The results of the evaluation served to assess the effects of the implementation of the innovations, as well as to support the business and innovators involved in the project to better define the conditions and situations that can improve the performance of the innovation.
The project produced 40 reports and other tangible results which are publicly available to support further research and knowledge transfer to stakeholders.
All along the project, the LOWINFOOD consortium was very active with communication and dissemination. During and after the demonstration, a continuous communication flow was kept active between the partners involved in the innovation tasks and the communication partner, in order to share pictures and videos of the demonstration, and to anticipate the qualitative results obtained. This allowed to achieve and exceed the target KPIs set for communication; some examples to this regard: 58 videos produced, with a total of +35,000 views during the lifetime of the project, 25 Practice Abstracts , almost 900 followers on LinedIn, +10,000 users of the website, 115 press hits generated on external media. For the scientific dissemination, 10 scientific articles have been published in peer review scientific journals by the end of the project, and more under review or in preparation. The final results of the project were showcased at the Final Project Meeting of LOWINFOOD, which took place in Archanes, Creta, on 24th September 2024, followed by the final LOWINFOOD conference on the 25th and 26th September 2024. This conference was integrated in RETASTE, a major international conference of food loss and waste, thus allowing to present LOWINFOOD results in front of a wide expert audience of researchers and stakeholders interested in food loss and waste reduction.
