Potential of solution to improve the nutritional quality of the food basket, i.e. that it provides dietary diversity and balanced diets including a range of food groups and all beneficial nutrients (e.g. vitamins, minerals, proteins, essential fats, dietary fibres). Also includes the potential to minimise potentially harmful elements (e.g. anti-nutrients, high quantities of saturated fats, salt and sugars) and diet-related comorbidities.

Potential of solution to minimize biological, chemical or physical contamination of food product(s) *both sanitation and toxicity issues

Potential of solution to increase supply and/or access to nutritious foods. Please take into account seasonal shifts in supply, the importance of stability, changes in policy & trade, and excesses/shortages of raw materials needed for a food’s production or processing

Potential of the solution to increase access by reducing the consumer price or increase purchasing power for nutritious foods, either through increased income or entitlements (e.g. social protection mechanisms).

Potential of solution to improve the desirability of nutritious foods or healthy diets, i.e. to make foods or healthy diets more aspirational, tasty, culturally appropriate, convenient, and/or easy to prepare

Potential of solution to reduce the greenhouse gas footprint of our food systems e.g., by reducing emissions or by capturing carbon

Potential of solution to increase the adaptation capacity to climate change of our food systems e.g., by providing options to minimize the impact of severe weather events, droughts, flooding, changing seasons, or other climate related issues

Potential of solution to decrease the water footprint of our food systems e.g., by increasing water use efficiency, recycling water, or reducing water needs

Potential of solution to improve soil health, restore degraded land or avoid land degradation, e.g. by increasing soil organic matter, contributing to soil biodiversity and soil nutrient availability, reducing soil erosion and risk of gully formation

Potential of solution to decrease biodiversity loss related to our food systems, e.g. by reducing pressure on land, water and chemical pollution, enhancing conservation of species at risk, and/or creating habitat in agricultural lands/aquaculture waters.

Potential of solution to increase biodiversity in our food systems e.g., by diversifying production systems and ingredient portfolios, and enhancing use of underutilized species.

Potential of solution to decrease pollution from our food systems e.g., by reducing nitrogen or phosphorus run-off and plastic pollution, or by reducing other types of pollution

Potential of the solution to reduce the disparities between groups who have different levels of underlying social advantage/disadvantage at any point in the food system.

Potential of by-passing linear or stepwise improvements and applying solutions that are several generations ahead of current approaches - e.g. mobile networks in Limited and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) by-passing the building of landline networks. Looking specifically at solutions that positively disrupt ‘business as usual’ to improve both human and environmental health.

Access to basic human needs of health, education, sanitation

Providing food and humanitarian relief, establishing sustainable food production

Better, more accessible health systems to increase life-expectancy

Inclusive education to enable upward social mobility and end poverty

Education regardless of gender, advancement of equality laws, fairer representation of women

Improving access for billions of people who lack these basic facilities

Access to renewable, safe and widely available energy sources for all

Creating jobs for all to improve living standards, providing sustainable economic growth

Generating employment and income through innovation

Reducing income and other inequalities, within and between countries

Making cities safe, inclusive, resilient and sustainable

Reversing current consumption trends and promoting a more sustainable future

Regulating and reducing emissions and promoting renewable energy

Conservation, promoting marine diversity and regulating fishing practices

Reversing man-made deforestation and desertification to sustain all life on earth

Inclusive societies, strong institutions and equal access to justice

Revitalize strong global partnerships for sustainable development

Solutions at this stage only exist as an idea at this moment, they do not yet have a plan or prototype.

Solutions at this stage are in their infancy, with prototypes having been developed or initial testing phases being undertaken. Initial testing has begun within research / pilot contexts.

Solutions at this stage have been piloted with successful use in a given setting. Evidence-based analysis and assessments are available.

Solutions at this stage have been successfully piloted in a given setting and are starting to be adopted elsewhere or scaled up in production quantity. Operational use by relevant users has been demonstrated across the community.

Solutions at this stage have been successfully implemented in various settings or have large production quantities. Solution is used routinely within the community of practice. Quality assurance and body of knowledge in place.

This element refers to the need for trust between key actors in the food system AND in the ability of innovations to deliver benefit to society; Also trust in the processes that effectively deal with intermittent problems or failure on the way to having a positive impact.

This element refers to fulfilling policy and regulatory support for innovations—whether for the innovator, the consumer, or other food system actors.

This element recognises the large start-up costs and/or risks associated with deploying new innovations at scale; recognizing the public policy responsibility to ensure opportunities are aligned to sustainability.

This element articulates that public trust in genuinely responsible innovation must be built and maintained for innovations to be adopted and extensive public dialogue must be facilitated, particularly to include marginalized actors.

This element refers to the need for more steady and longer-term finance for innovations to drive transformational shifts.

This element recognizes the need for adequate data to be available to improve existing research and contribute new evidence to the ongoing public dialogue. It looks to science-based and evidence-driven models to effectively monitor all aspects of the food system.

This element seeks to minimize the negative tradeoffs or unintended indirect effects of innovations. Requires monitoring of innovation moving to scale and taking corrective action when necessary, taking into account all stakeholders needs.

This element refers to the need to support actors of the food system to embrace change in the food system. It recognises the deeply ingrained cultural relationship that many people have with food and encourages transformation of the way that people think about food and the values that shape their choices.

This element articulates the need for an effective food system that allows and promotes gender inclusiveness and does not leave any vulnerable populations behind, but rather supports more equity in the development and adaptation of  innovative food system practices.

This element recognizes the need to  more actively involve young people in all parts of food system transformations going forward. Youth are the earth’s future generation and the more they are included in designing, developing, testing and scaling innovations, the more invested they become in driving positive changes in society across the food system.