Scroll down to apply! Deadline 15 March
This project is part of the Ontwerpkracht & Transities programme, which is funded through PPS-i funding from the Ministry of Economic Affairs via TKI CLICKNL.
Join the Agrofood Transition
Grassroots explores the role of start-ups in the agrofood transition by combining academic research with creative collaboration in storytelling, design and systems thinking within MVEs.
A Minimal Viable Ecosystem (MVE) is the smallest possible constellation of parties, activities and relationships in which value is created for everyone involved. Within an MVE, partners work towards a shared mission, without one party extracting disproportionate value. It is a workable structure that allows room to experiment, learn and grow into a broader, sustainable ecosystem. Many circular innovations fail because the right market context is missing. Start-ups develop promising solutions, but run into systemic barriers such as the lack of suitable partners, long-term funding, unclear value propositions and a shortage of narratives that inspire action, shift perspectives and change how value is perceived.
Why designers are needed
What’s needed is an integrated approach in which not only technical innovation, but also new forms of collaboration, narratives and systems thinking take centre stage. And this is exactly where design is essential. Not as a final layer of styling, but as a driving force for creating new stories, shaping collaborations, uncovering hidden assumptions and making new futures imaginable. Design can help create momentum where systems are currently stuck.
The food transition requires more than technical innovation alone. Creative thinking is needed to tell new stories, shape collaborations and redesign systems. Designers and other creatives bring fresh perspectives and new design approaches that help impact-driven start-ups move forward and support system change — from narrative and visual identity to process design and collaboration models.
That’s why three creative teams are invited to work on one of three urgent challenges within the agrofood transition:
- revaluing side streams as food,
- shaping regenerative food landscapes around cities,
- and developing ecosystems around new, alternative ingredients.
The MVEs we’re developing
Apply
Interested and would you like to take part? Sign up below. Please note: you may apply for more than one MVE, but you can only be selected for one. Deadline: 15 March (the open calls are closed).
Food stays food
Over the course of two years, Grassroots follows three start-ups that each contribute to the food transition in their own way — MaGie Creations is one of them.
MaGie Creations is part of the MVE Food stays food. They develop healthier food with less waste, and connect products to meaningful stories for conscious consumers. Drawing on their expertise in ingredients made from spent grain, they show how taste, health, sustainability and affordability can come together in compelling food concepts.
Central question: What is the role of side streams, in this case spent grain, in a sustainable food system?
Who are we looking for within this MVE?
For Food stays Food, we are looking for creatives who can help reframe the value of side streams from the food industry within this MVE. Together with the MVE partners, you will translate this new value into an intervention that communicates it to a broad audience.
✏️ Interested in joining Food stays food? Apply here for theOpen Call. Please read the briefing carefully first (at the bottom of this page).
More information about Food stays food.
Marketplace for alternative ingredients
Over the course of two years, Grassroots follows three start-ups that each contribute to the food transition in their own way; Grassa is one of them.
Grassa is part of the MVE Marketplace for alternative ingredients. They aim to make the Netherlands less dependent on soy imports by unlocking the full nutritional value of grass through a natural process of pressing, heating and filtering. This results in both high-quality feed for ruminants and plant-based ingredients for people and animals. In doing so, Grassa helps dairy farmers use grass more efficiently as a raw material, with less waste and a positive impact on sustainability, soil health and CO₂ reduction.
Central question: What is the role of grass in a sustainable food system for animals, people and nature?
Who are we looking for within this MVE?
For Marketplace for Alternative Ingredients, we are looking for creatives who can shape ways to make new food innovations tangible and experiential. Designers who can create future scenarios that make roles, behavioural patterns and transitions relatable and open for discussion.
✏️ Interested in joining Marketplace for alternative ingredients? Apply here for theOpen Call. Please read the briefing carefully first (at the bottom of this page).
More information about Marketplace for alternative ingredients.
Healthy food landscape around ‘densely populated’ communities
Over the course of two years, Grassroots follows three start-ups that each contribute to the food transition in their own way; Circlefarming is one of them.
Circlefarming is part of the MVE Healthy food landscape around ‘densely populated’ communities. It enables local, diverse and plant-based food production on relatively small plots of land, reconnecting people with their food. At the same time, it supports farmers in the transition to regenerative agriculture and contributes to biodiversity, soil health and resilient landscapes where nature, farming and communities come together.
Central question: How can creative interventions contribute to the emergence, functioning and growth of an MVE focused on regenerative, local food production in and around densely populated areas?
Who are we looking for within this MVE?
For Healthy food landscape around ‘densely populated’ communities, we are looking for creatives who want to help shape the production landscape of tomorrow. Partners who are eager to explore and imagine with us what farming and its surrounding landscape could look like when transitioning to regenerative agriculture.
✏️ Interested in joining Food stays food? Apply here for theOpen Call. Please read the briefing carefully first (at the bottom of this page).
More information about Healthy food landscape around ‘densely populated’ communities.
Designer as full partner
Within the programme, the designer takes on a hybrid role as designer, research partner and creative strategist. Together with the MVE partners, they will develop an intervention and shape the shared direction and identity of the ecosystem. The designer is not working towards a standalone end product, but contributes as an equal partner within a growing ecosystem. A creative intervention will be developed and tested to help accelerate the transition, while also contributing to new research into the role of design in system change.