Brussels, December 15th, 2025 – After three and a half years of intensive groundwork, the Horizon Europe project FOODPathS has concluded, leaving behind a strategic legacy designed to accelerate the transformation of Europe’s food systems. The project not only developed a concrete blueprint for future research, innovation, policy and education collaboration — it built a thriving community of individuals and organisations working to address urgent global challenges, from climate change and biodiversity loss to hunger, malnutrition and inequality.
At the heart of FOODPathS’ achievements are a strategic Manual (also converted into a pragmatic handbook), a set of actionable Recommendations, and a community-driven approach that will support the next generation of European R&I partnerships, including FutureFoodS, PRIMA, and Agroecology.

Laying the Foundation for European R&I Partnerships
Throughout the project, FOODPathS convened key actors across the food systems to identify barriers to transformation and define what an effective, inclusive partnership should look like and how it could work. This groundwork has directly informed the strategic directions for partnerships (or collaborations) of current and emerging European R&I frameworks.

The project’s Final Recommendations, available on FOODPathS website, outline critical areas for future action, including:

• Governance: Creating inclusive, accountable, and balanced decision-making processes built on shared visions.
• Collaboration: Strengthening dialogues through accessible language and trusted spaces for diverse actors to work together.
• Funding: Promoting systems-based approaches, aligned calls, and strong incentives for interdisciplinarity and multi-actor cooperation in projects.
• Evidence to Policy: Establishing an independent Food Systems Observatory to improve the translation of evidence into action.
• Knowledge Integration: Building a practical Knowledge Hub to connect Food System Labs and foster cross-learning between a diversity of actors.

During the FOODPathS final meeting (1-2 October 2025), the European Commission welcomed these concrete achievements. Rosalinda Scalia, European Commission representative, stated:
"You brought together funders, invited new actors to join the endeavour, and defined what it means to have a partnership with a systems approach. With the new proposal for the European Competitiveness Fund and Horizon Europe programme, we invite all stakeholders in food systems to follow the process closely and continue mobilising the food2030 community.”

A Handbook for Pragmatic Changemakers
A cornerstone of FOODPathS’ legacy is its Handbook for pragmatic changemakers — a practical guide for anyone seeking to build or strengthen partnerships for sustainable food systems. Drawing on real-world cases from across Europe, the Handbook offers:

• Step-by-step guidance on establishing inclusive partnerships at local, regional, national, and international levels.
• Tools to mobilise collective intelligence and bring diverse perspectives together.
• Lessons learned from FOODPathS pilots and collaborations.

“The overwhelming planetary challenges made clear why an inclusive partnership on sustainable food systems was needed” said Hugo de Vries, FOODPathS Coordinator. “Today, FOODPathS presents how such an inclusive Partnership can operate, thanks to a comprehensive handbook.”

The Handbook is a summary of a more exhaustive Manual developed by FOODPathS. These resources are available on FOODPathS website and on Zenodo


FOODCastS: Voices for Food System Transformation
FOODPathS also launched FOODCastS, a podcast series bringing together chefs, educators, researchers, and practitioners to explore the motivations, challenges, and solutions shaping sustainable food systems.
Episodes examine:

• Practical innovations such as the Planetary Health Diets
• The role of chefs as ambassadors for sustainable cooking and biodiversity
• How schools are becoming living labs for food system education
• New professional training models that develop leaders skilled in systems thinking

The final episode reflects on the FOODPathS Final Meeting, underscoring the project’s main message: systemic collaboration is essential to achieving transformative partnerships.
All episodes are available on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1DAMPNMRs7JF6 and on the FOODPathS website.