A delegation from the OnFoods Foundation is attending the IUFoST World Food Congress 2026, taking place in Hong Kong from 25 to 29 October. The congress brings together researchers, practitioners, public institutions and industry representatives to discuss current challenges in food science and technology.

On Thursday 29 October, from 2 to 3 pm, the special session Science, Innovation and Communication for Healthy and Sustainable Diets: Insights from OnFoods will bring together three perspectives on how to support healthy and sustainable diets. Patrizia Riso, the Foundation’s new President, will present Public-Private Partnerships as Drivers of Food System Innovation: Lessons Learnt from OnFoods. The session will also feature Paola Vitaglione of the University of Naples Federico II, speaking on personalised nutrition and gut health, and Daniela Martini of the University of Milan, on plant-based alternatives in the age of ultra-processed foods.

Riso’s presentation will examine OnFoods as a large-scale public-private partnership. Funded through Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) and NextGenerationEU, the programme mobilised €114 million over three years, including €20 million in cascade funding. It brought together 26 universities, research organisations and companies, involved more than 800 participants, and supported the recruitment of over 140 early-career researchers and the work of more than 200 PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers.

The Foundation’s seven Spokes addressed connected areas across the food system, from production and circularity to food safety, personalised nutrition and malnutrition, as well as behaviour, policy and education. The presentation will look at how shared governance, interdisciplinary research and close collaboration with industry helped turn research activity into practical outcomes and tools.

These include open-access publications and resources, pilot validation, prototypes, reformulation strategies, analytical methods, data resources and tools designed to inform public policy. The programme also helped establish new collaborations between public and private organisations and opened up pathways for innovation among small and medium-sized enterprises.

OnFoods’ experience offers an opportunity to consider what can help drive innovation in food systems: coordinating different areas of expertise around shared goals, setting measurable milestones, supporting open science and involving industry from an early stage, with its operational and technical constraints in view. Investment in people is equally important to sustaining the skills and relationships developed through a programme of this scale.