Co-creation in partnerships contributing to the sustainability of food systems: insights from 52 case studies in Europe

Accelerating the transition to sustainable food systems requires joint action. This groundbreaking analysis dives into 52 diverse European food system partnerships to understand how co-creation works in practice. Using a novel methodology based on a game structure, the study standardizes data collection to reveal generic and case-specific insights. Key findings highlight the roles of different actors—from innovative smallholders to public sector organizers—in creating value and generating snowball effects, ultimately leading to an adapted concept and recommendations for the European Partnership on Sustainable Food Systems.

Highlights

• Different types of inclusive, co-creating, partnerships contribute jointly to sustainability.
• The public and civil society actors emerge as initiators, enablers, and organizers of scales of interaction.
• A novel co-creation partnership concept guides the future Partnership on Sustainable Food Systems.
• A game structure-based methodology allows standardizing data collection of 52 food system cases.