I3X 12 - Enabling Agrifood Supply Chain Resilience

Innovate3X - 12

Enabling Agrifood Supply Chain Resilience

Initiator: IfM Engage, (Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge), United Kingdom

IfM Engage is a knowledge transfer organization embedded in the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) (a division of the Engineering Department at the University of Cambridge).

IfM Engage focuses on facilitating knowledge translation from the research happening at IfM and the wider university to practice, supporting industry and government through the deployment of consulting, education and communication activities.

The group prepares and supports the implementation of innovation and transformation initiatives by connecting academic research with real-world decision-making and delivery. In general the methods deployed are versatile and can be adapted to various contexts/sectors. IfM Engage have much experience to deploy our approaches in all the 4 sectors (Nutrition, Mobility, Energy and Housing).

IfM Engage’s work draws on interdisciplinary approaches and has run activities in a variety of sectors including Food, Energy, Mobility and Construction. Across the sectors, the focus is on innovation and operations management, sustainability and resilience management, policy studies, systems engineering and digitalization and social sciences, in the context of European and global agendas for sustainable, resilient and inclusive growth.

Case studies which describe IfM Engage capabilities include:

https://engage.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/e-wave-powering-the-future-of-electric-shipping/

https://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/insights/sustainability/

https://engage.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/project/eit-food-roadmapping-case-study/

https://engage.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/project/unlocking-the-potential-of-materials-for-quantum-technologies-in-the-uk/

https://engage.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/project/future-proofing-controlled-environment-agriculture-with-defra/

Desired Outcome:

IfM Engage is seeking collaborators to organize the next AgriFood Supply Chain resilience workshop. Amidst a geopolitical shift, the technology-led efficiency and effectiveness perspective on sustainability has taken a front seat. The objective of this workshop is to rethink the global agenda for food system resilience in a changing world. Here we aim to bring together diverse stakeholders – multilateral institutions, global industry leaders, policymakers, and innovators – to collaboratively reshape how food systems can adapt to evolving global challenges. The workshop will also offer companies an opportunity to share their new pathways, helping us better understand the systemic opportunities to strengthen supply chain resilience.

i) How do we produce? ii) How do we distribute? iii) How do we consume?

R&I Stages:

In addressing the outlined challenge, this I3X requires going through the Conceptualisation stage.

This I3X is Looking for Skills and Capabilities across Disciplines for:

Functionality: Exploring innovative solutions to ensure food systems promote health and well-being by maintaining and improving nutritional standards across supply chains.
Availability: Strengthening supply chains through resilient production processes and operational frameworks to ensure consistent food availability, even in the face of disruptions.
Affordability: Addressing economic barriers to sustainable food production by examining innovative financial models and investment strategies that support affordable food options.
Accessibility: Leveraging technology and data-driven solutions to enhance equitable access to nutritious food.
Multi-stakeholder engagement and facilitation

To engage with this work, it would be beneficial for secondees to have experience/capability of:

Supply Chain management
Resilience
Working with diverse stakeholders across food systems, including researchers, policymakers, industry actors and civil society
- Designing and supporting evidence-informed innovation and decision-making processes
- Developing tools and approaches for monitoring, learning and impact evaluation

Important:

SMAR3TS Secondments are open only to SMAR3TS Consortium Partners.

Secondments aligned to any I3X can be undertaken at either the Initiating Parter premises and/or other SMAR3TS Consortium Partner premises.

Regardless of where you are undertaking work on an I3X, you are obligated to ensure the aligned I3X Initiator Project Contact, Lead / Responsible aligned Work Package Leader, as well as the SMAR3TS Project Management Team are kept fully up-to-date with the progress of your contribution to your secondment aligned I3X - Refer to the detailed information 'About Secondments - What are Secondments'.

Examples of Challenges that Need to be Addressed

Initiator Institution (IfM Engage @ the University of Cambridge) Contact for this I3XS

Link to the website: https://engage.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk

Project Lead: Dr. Mukesh Kuman, Associate Professor, IfM Engage, Institute for Manufacturing, mk501@cam.ac.uk

Dr David Lott, Chief Executive Officer, IfM Engage, Institute for Manufacturing, dl362@cam.ac.uk

NOTE:

Click here for instructions on how to plan for a secondment.

Alignment to Work-Package/s

SMAR3TS domains that are relevant to this I3X:

Lead Work Package - Nutrition – food systems, diet, health and wellbeing

With cross-cutting relevance to:
• Mobility, Energy and Housing, through system-level sustainability, governance and transformation perspectives

SMAR3TS Nutrition Work Package Lead Contact: Assoc. Prof. Letizia Mortara, University of Cambridge, IfM, lm367@cam.ac.uk

Alignment to Resilience, Restoration, Regeneration (R3)

The primary focus is clearly on resilience, as the workshop aims to rethink how global food systems can adapt to ongoing geopolitical, environmental, and technological shifts. By convening a diverse group of stakeholders—from multilateral institutions to industry innovators—the initiative promotes systems-level thinking about how production, distribution, and consumption can be made more robust, agile, and responsive in the face of disruption. This is especially relevant in the context of increasingly complex global risks, such as climate volatility, conflict, and trade instability.

Regeneration features through the emphasis on new pathways and systemic opportunities, particularly where innovation leads not just to efficiency but to transformative changes in how food is produced and distributed. Regenerative practices in agriculture and supply chain design can support environmental and social renewal—restoring soils, reducing dependency on finite resources, and embedding equity into value chains.

Restoration is also implicitly present in efforts to repair fragile or broken aspects of current supply chains, especially those that have proven vulnerable under pressure. By exploring how we can better produce, distribute, and consume food, the workshop invites solutions that restore balance across food systems, supporting both human and ecological recovery from past unsustainable practices.

Related Keywords

Nutrition; Supply Chains management; Resilience; Food System Transformation; Evidence-to-Impact; Knowledge Translation; Policy-Informed Innovation; Sustainability; Systems Thinking; Public Health; Societal Resilience