DFG Senate Commission calls for supportive framework conditions / Long-term funding, new incentive structures and shared societal responsibility for financing

From field to fork: the journey of our food follows a long value chain. How can research and practice work more closely together in agricultural and food systems in the future? One possible approach is the use of living labs, where different stakeholders collaborate and learn from one another in an experimental setting. In a statement published on 7 July, the DFG’s Permanent Senate Commission on the Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems (SKAE) outlines the framework conditions needed for the successful implementation of living labs.

In particular, the researchers recommend that both the establishment and funding of living labs should be designed with a long-term perspective to enable efficient and successful research. They also argue that financing living labs should not primarily draw on existing funding structures for research projects, but should instead be recognised and embraced as a shared responsibility across society.

Living labs are a form of stakeholders from different fields such as academia, politics, business, professional associations, interest groups or civil society. Their overarching aim is to identify problems jointly and develop solutions collaboratively. One key feature is the collaborative design of the research projects by both academic participants and participants outside the academic field. Living labs are already used in a wide range of settings where academia, business and society interact, and are well established in some areas, including mobility, sustainable urban development and the use of robotics in care provision. 

Network-based living lab initiatives are also becoming increasingly common in agricultural, food and nutrition systems in Germany and across Europe. In agriculture, for example, they explore how legumes can be more effectively integrated into farming practice and marketed as “niche crops” in Germany. Another example is to be found in the field of nutrition, where researchers examine the opportunities and challenges associated with creating more sustainable and healthier food environments at childcare centres, schools and hospitals. Their work includes research on public acceptance, cost-benefit analyses and disease prevention.

 “Living labs can help bridge the gap between basic research and practice, enabling the particular systemic challenges facing this field of research to be addressed more comprehensively. At the same time, conventional field trials must not be neglected,” says Professor Dr. Doris Vetterlein of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Chair of the SKAE.

In its statement, the Commission explains that implementing living labs in agricultural and food systems presents a range of challenges. These particularly include the differing interests and resources of the stakeholders involved, restrictive legal and administrative framework conditions, and the considerable effort required for coordination, communication and trust-building. “Short project durations and the conventional incentive structures in research, for example, are not well suited to living labs,” says Professor Dr. Jana Rückert-John of Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Deputy Chair of the SKAE.

The Commission therefore advocates strengthening and further developing the existing framework conditions, incentive structures and training provision in the agricultural, food and nutrition sciences more generally. “This would ensure that the demanding work carried out in living labs receives the recognition it deserves,” Rückert-John adds.

A further challenge lies in methodology, since basic research in the natural sciences has to be reconciled with the open, exploratory character of experiments conducted in living labs. When this succeeds, living labs can offer additional benefit. While controlled experiments uncover fundamental mechanisms, living labs enable the joint development and testing of innovative approaches and promote shared learning processes.

In its statement, the SKAE recommends that the establishment and funding of living labs should be based on a long-term perspective, with funding for at least ten years as a prerequisite for efficient and successful research in this context. “Long-term funding perspectives of this kind are essential for building trust among the stakeholders involved and for establishing the necessary structures,” Vetterlein emphasises. Accordingly, the funding of living labs should not primarily draw on existing funding structures for research projects, but should instead be supported jointly by the research community, policymakers, business and society as a whole.

According to the statement, the findings of basic research and the work carried out in living labs can reinforce one another productively. By taking real-world contexts into account, basic research in turn opens up new opportunities for innovative approaches within living labs. “Living labs should be seen as a key component of integrated systems research and an important extension of the research landscape, with the potential to contribute significantly to the transformation of agricultural and food systems,” Doris Vetterlein concludes.

The Permanent Senate Commission on the Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems

The Senate Commission was established by the DFG Senate on 1 January 2024. The focus of the Permanent Senate Commission on the Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems is to advise various target groups including politics, academia and society at large on developments related to ongoing transformations in agricultural and food systems. The Commission currently comprises 18 members from different disciplines within the agricultural and food sciences and related fields, as well as permanent guests from various German research institutions.

Further Information

To the statement(externer Link)

To the Senate Commission(interner Link)