The Food Systems Game Changers Lab offers an opportunity for innovative new ideas to create positive change in the food system.

The Lab was created through a partnership between EAT Forum, IDEO, SecondMuse, Thought for Food, The Rockefeller Foundation, Meridian Institute, Intention 2 Impact, and Forum for the Future. Christine Gould, the Founder and CEO of Thought for Food, tells Food Tank that the Lab seeks to “democratize all of the voices in our food systems, mobilize on-the-ground innovation, and provide avenues to bring these insights and solutions into higher-level food systems conversations.”

In addition to receiving access to funding, innovators have the opportunity to collaborate with other participants and build relationships with partners who can support their project. Gould tells Food Tank that these relationships can help accelerate their projects, “whether through policy advocacy, product prototyping, or building fit-for-purpose digital solutions.”

Each project also belongs to a Solutions Cohort, where the participant can connect with like-minded partners pursuing similar goals. These groupings organize projects according to their topic, including elevating Indigenous knowledge, building soil health, and mainstreaming True Cost Accounting.

Many of the projects participating plan to solve local or regional food issues. These include MooFarm, a digital platform to support small-scale farmers in India, and The Village Farmers Initiative, a project in Nigeria’s Anam riverine enabling the production and distribution of native food varieties.

The Lab encourages participants to move from the “me to the we,” Gould says. By focusing on collective success and food systems transformation as a team effort, the Lab hopes to differentiate itself from other accelerators or incubator programs. “We need to try new approaches if we want to see real change,” Gould tells Food Tank.

Read the full article about global food systems by Eve Gleeson at Food Tank.