Be a hacker

Let's build a more resilient and climate-positive food system together.

How does this work?

  • Build a hypothesis and create a case in 48 hours.
  • Bring your friends or come alone, we arrange food and accommodation in dorm.
  • No technical skills required.

Who can be a hacker? 
Anyone who is passionate about sustainability and innovation in the food system. We think you are a student, a start up or an entrepreneur who’s eager to make a difference.

Food Hack is organised by Krinova - Sweden's largest and first incubator and science park with a focus on the food sector.

See the program here!

What you get

  • New friends from the international food community and lots of fun!
  • Professional mentoring & innovation seminars.
  • Chance to win a 50 000 SEK price check together with your team, ex. taxes and fees*.
  • A ticket to the Spot on Food conference on 3rd of October is also included!
  • All meals to nuture your minds are included 1st - 3rd October.

*if you don't have a Swedish social security number you will need to apply for coordination number.

Theme: “Sustainable resilient food systems across the entire value chain”

The global food system is under pressure from ongoing crises, highlighting the need for sustainability and resilience. To combat challenges like resource scarcity and environmental impact, we invite you to innovate with us.

Join the Food Hack to help secure a sustainable future for food production and promote a healthier planet.
Tickets

Challenges

Over the next 48 hours, you and your team (set up by Krinova) will be diving into some of the most pressing challenges facing the food system today. With a focus on sustainability and resilience, your mission is to develop innovative solutions that address one or more of the following challenges:

1. Sustainable Consumer Behavior

Consumers affect environmental impact through their daily choices, especially in purchasing food. The current system often prioritizes convenience and cost over sustainability, leading to excessive waste, high carbon footprints, and a disconnection from the source of food. 

Most consumers are unaware of the environmental costs of their choices or lack accessible alternatives that align with sustainable practices.

These are important challenges where your thoughts and your perspective matters!


Choose one of these challenges, or feel free to explore how your solution can address multiple challenges simultaneously.

Challenges:

  • Enhancing Grocery Purchasing:
    Explore innovative avenues to reshape grocery shopping, turning it into a powerful promoter of sustainable habits. Think of how design and technology can meet to create shopping experiences that not only prioritize environmental values but also educate consumers, potentially transforming their purchasing patterns towards sustainability. How can we make sustainable shopping attractive?

  • Promoting Sustainable Diets:
    Develop strategies to elevate the appeal of eco-friendly and healthy food choices. This involves thinking of and deploying psychological insights and interesting marketing tactics that can shift consumer preferences away from environmentally costly options to those that support both personal health and the planet's well-being. Many people know they should eat more responsibly, how can we make them want to do it?

  • Visionary Foods:
    Conceptualize the future of food by integrating sustainability with emerging health trends. This task demands a creative yet analytical approach to designing foods that capture the imagination and appeal to the ethics of modern consumers which may contribute to more sustainable eating practices. Consider how these foods can be produced, marketed, and distributed within existing and future food systems to maximize public interest and practical uptake.

2. Reducing Transport's Environmental Toll

Transportation is a major contributor to global emissions which are heavily reliant on fossil fuels. The structure of supply chains often means goods travel long distances before reaching consumers, compounding their carbon footprint. 

Additionally, the financial structures of these supply chains rarely incentivize reducing distances or switching to greener modes of transport like rail or electric vehicles, as these can initially be more expensive or less efficient on a short-term scale. 

While you learn about the current system and its problems, your ideas and thoughts around what should change can inspire real world development.

Choose one of these challenges, or feel free to explore how your solution can address multiple challenges simultaneously.


Challenges:

  • Shortening Supply Chains: Investigate and design methodologies to reduce the geographical lengths of supply chains, diminishing the distance from farm to table. This task involves analysing the current global supply chain models and rethinking to support local economies, reduce carbon emissions, while maintaining food quality. There is much room for innovative technologies and localized production strategies that could contribute to more sustainable and resilient food systems. Which possibilities will you find?

  • Greener Transportation Modalities: Devise forward-thinking transportation solutions that reduce emissions while maintaining efficiency. This requires an exploration of alternative fuels, advanced vehicle technologies, and systemic changes in the transportation infrastructure that prioritize sustainability. You will get the chance to evaluate the potential impacts of these innovations on the current transportation networks and their feasibility in terms of scalability, cost, and consumer acceptance. Take your part in moving toward a new and more responsible system.

  • Economic Restructuring of Transport: Rethink and redesign the economic frameworks governing transportation networks to incentivize and support greener solutions. This challenge entails a detailed examination of existing financial incentives, regulatory environments, and market barriers that currently favour fossil-fuel-based transport modalities. From your fresh perspective, you may propose new economic models or adjustments to existing ones that could support the adoption of more sustainable transport

3. Supporting Sustainable Farming

Traditional farming practices are under increasing scrutiny due to their environmental impact, including high water usage, chemical fertilizers, and methods that degrade soil health over time.

Furthermore, methane emissions from livestock are a significant source of global warming. Transitioning to sustainable practices requires overcoming barriers including the cost of new technology, resistance to change in farming communities, and a lack of supportive infrastructure and knowledge.

Will you accept the challenge of discovering and communicating real world changes in food production?

Choose one of these challenges, or feel free to explore how your solution can address multiple challenges simultaneously.

Challenges:

  • Tech-Enhanced Farming: Focus on creating technology solutions that facilitate farmers' transition to sustainable practices in an easy and cost-effective manner. Investigate the integration of precision agriculture technologies, such as AI-driven farm management systems, that can optimize resource use and minimize environmental impact. Delve into how these technologies can be adapted to various agricultural scales and settings, potentially transforming traditional farming into more sustainable practices without creating too large financial burdens on farmers.

  • Methane Reduction in Livestock: Develop methods or practices aimed at reducing methane emissions from livestock, a significant contributor to global greenhouse gases. This challenge calls for a combination of approaches, including dietary adjustments, animal care, or even waste management techniques. You will explore the feasibility of these methods in terms of effectiveness, practicality, and acceptability within farming communities, while learning interesting aspects of current farming practices. You will develop ideas of how these practices can be implemented within existing agricultural frameworks to achieve measurable reductions in methane emissions.

  • Advanced Crop Management: Learn about rotation and soil management techniques and start thinking about how they can enhance agricultural yield while possibly also enriching soil health and promoting biodiversity. This involves a learning about agronomic sciences to develop systems that utilize both natural processes and technology. The goal of this challenge is to suggest scalable and adaptable management practices that benefit both farmers and the environment.

Choose one of these challenges, or feel free to explore how your solution can address multiple challenges simultaneously. Collaborate with your team, leverage your diverse skills, and think outside the box to create impactful solutions that contribute to a more resilient and climate-positive food system. Get ready to innovate, collaborate, and make a difference! The challenges are provided by "Climate Neutral Kristianstad 2030"

Read more about the background to the challenges

Join the Food Hack

  • Tickets cost - 495 SEK 
  • Application deadline: 16th September.

How to get here

Check out the video below from 2023 to see what it means to be a Food Hacker.

Tickets
© MapTiler © OpenStreetMap contributors

About Krinova

Krinova is a catalyst for development and innovation in society. With strong commitment, broad expertise, and a bank of methods and tools, we are drivers of innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises. We help entrepreneurs reach their full potential. We consider collaboration key. That is how challenges find solutions, new knowledge is born, and networks are broadened. Krinova acts as both a hub and an engine for driving development and innovation for sustainable growth.

Focus on food

Krinova is Sweden’s first and largest incubator and science park with food as a profile area. For more than 15 years, we have accumulated unique knowledge and a wide network of researchers, entrepreneurs, financiers, and organisations linked to the food industry. Over 500 food companies, new and established, have over the years been supported by Krinova to grow and strengthen their innovative power and competitiveness.

Krinova offers:

  • Global meeting place for companies, people, ideas, and creativity
  • A platform for development projects within the area of food
  • State-of-the-art incubation and open innovation support
  • Food Community Events to strengthen our local as well as global network