The second crEATe event with focus on 24/7 Smart Food included networking, workshopping and getting new ideas took place at IBM in Helsinki on 24th September. crEATe, facilitated by Fazer Food Services, IBM and VTT, relates to three impact areas: people’s vitality, sustainability and customer experience & restaurant solutions.
Miikka Kiiski from IBM summarized the first crEATe research projects that have been implemented this year: In the Recovery Lunch project three different environments were set up in the TestEat restaurant in order to study how environment effects our food choices and if lunch break helps to recover from work stress. Fazer Brainhow project collected a group of volunteers who followed Fazer Brainhow wellbeing programme for 5 weeks. Power Snacks pilot project focused focused on dietary protein intake and protein snacks. crEATe tracking project was arranged in May at the TestEat restaurant by using behavior tracking technology. Data has been collected and first results are expected in October.
Nesli Sözer, Research Professor from VTT, Ville Ojanen, psychologist from Academy of Brain and Jussi Nykänen, CEO of FIM Impact gave ideas and inspiration for the participants before the workshop moderated by Anu Nousiainen from VTT.
Tools for consumers facing complex choices
Nesli Sözer spoke about the megatrends shaping the consumer landscape: “Global challenges put our food system into risk. We have to find ways to tackle these issues.”
“Consumers have to make more and more complex choices, and tools are needed to assist them”, said Sözer. There are already food applications under work that may sound futuristic.
According to Sözer we need to put the world on a more sustainable track: “We need to develop high-quality, nutritious foods to meet the needs and demand of consumers by adapting sustainable production and distribution technologies while protecting the integrity and safety of the food supply chain. Data is the fuel and data analytics is the engine of smart, sustainable food production. Fusion of big data with internet of things will catalyze local and distributed manufacturing.”
Take ownership over your experiences
Ville Ojanen’s topic was about human’s capability of coping with change. He is interested in the relationship of brain and mind: What drives the human behaviour? He talked about our inner subjective world – how we feel and what is true for us; our perceptions and emotions.
“You need to dig deeper to get in touch with your emotions and needs. They make the world go around”, said Ojanen. “Our brains are faced with many jobs and challenges. They need to be controlled on a manageable level, and this is difficult for us. He compared our emotions to a roller coaster that goes up and down.
He gave the audience some everyday mind skills: “Awareness helps to be in contact with yourself, and tactical breathing helps us to perform in difficult situations. Take ownership over your experiences. Breath, be curious and live to learn. Take care of yourself: eat healthy and get in touch with your emotions and needs. Speak wisely and listen mindfully. Choose to behave in a way that builds trust and safety.”
Towards responsible investing
Jussi Nykänen told about new ways for financing innovative solutions: “Impact investing is the next step in responsible investing, and global impact investing markets are growing fast. We take into consideration the impact the investment has created. Also we have to measure the impact to prove it.”
According to Nykänen, the impact investing is situated in between traditional investment and philantropy. FIM Food will invest in growth companies in food sector, and the target companies are expected to deliver positive environmental and/or social impact.
The Smart Food 24/7 event continued with the workshop that consisted of active listening, ideation rounds, creating a solution scripts and finally pitching the ideas. Total of nine groups presented their ideas, which will be checked and utilized during the planning of new crEATe projects.
The next event will take place in the beginning of 2020. Welcome!