Combining in practice

In this section, we explore effective examples of combining both within the Food Tech 3.0 project and beyond

What does combining look like in practice?

There are several examples of synergies and collaborations involving the Food Tech 3.0 community both within and beyond the scope the project. These collaborations help to multiple the impact that initiatives have. At the same time, these instances of combining contribute to creating a more resilient local food system and a more distributed global system.

POWAR, the Fab network, and schools in Lisboa

Another collaboration that took place within the framework of the FOODSHIFT 2030 project was between the innovator Pablo Zuloaga Betancourt (creator of POWAR), Fablab Benfica, FabSchools (a STEAM education project through digital fabrication of which POWAR is part), and the Polytechnic of Lisbon.

Within this collaboration, a 4-hour workshop was developed for educators from different projects, schools, and institutions in Portugal, to teach them how to build a Smart Garden using Seeed Studio's WIO terminal. This device has been a great evolution for the POWAR weather simulator, as it is now the new brain of the box. Thanks to its connectivity, ease of use, color display and connectivity of Grove sensors and actuators, the WIO terminal has made it easier to use the box, particularly when it comes to measuring and displaying environmental values. This enables community members to build a smart gardening system to automate some of the processes of plant care. Here you can find the documentation on Gitbook and Hackter.io so you can replicate this system at your home or school.

POWAR demonstrating a similar workshop for teachers in emerging technologies of digital fabrication, in the Florida Lab de l'Hospitalet that the POWAR team helped build last year.

Naifactory, local actors, and installations in Barcelona

Another interesting collaboration was the one between innovators Silvana Catazine and Josean Vilar founders of Naifactory Lab and Doris Boira of the @cooperativa La Fàbrica that put in contact the community kitchen of Casal Ca l'Isidret managed by @taulaeixpereiv and the women's association @tresorsdedona to train them in the production of biomaterials.

Naifactory has also collaborated with the Disseny Hub of Barcelona in a commitment to sustainability by designing ephemeral signage 100% recyclable based on biomaterials and free of ink. The proposal comes from the CÍBICO project, winner of the proactive city 2021 of BiT Habitat in the field of ephemeral graphic communication. CÍBICO is an innovative technological system in the field of sustainable ephemeral graphic communication based on digital fabrication, the use of organic waste and social labor. Its objective is to introduce biomaterials as an alternative to plastics and thus eliminate the waste of ephemeral architecture in events and fairs.

The Naifactory Lab team meets with Tresor de Dona, where they to talked about the issues that concern us, shared ideas and trained them in the production of biomaterials.

Domingo Club workshops

Maud Bausier and Antoine Jaunard, founders of Domingo Club, a social initiative that promotes fermented plant proteins and builds tools through digital fabrication, collaborate with AKASHA Hub, a decentralized project and self-managed community with its main node in Barcelona. The Domingo Club duo gives workshops to the community with the aim of promoting the practice and benefits of fermentation and the power of mushrooms. Consuming mushrooms improves immune function and mental health and at the same time improves the management of natural resources by fighting against intensive livestock and agriculture.

Domingo Club is currently organizing workshops for the community with the collaboration of Barcelona's Ateneus de Fabricaciò (makerspaces open for public use) to promote digital fabrication of the fermenter. The fermenter files are open source and you can find them here.

Domingo Club had the opportunity to participate in Food Culture Days in Vevey Switzerland. There, they brought their knowledge to festival goers, fermenting tempeh together.

Aquapioneers

Another good example of collaborations and synergies is what happened between the startup Aquapioneers, FabLab Luxembourg, and Engineers Without Borders. Together they created a collaborative workshop and manufactured one of the open source Aquapioneers Kit (you can find the files in the link above).

Aquapioneers was born from a project realized by Guillaume Tessyer, during his time in Fab Academy, and Loïc Le Goueff, now founder of Green in Blue and part of the Food Tech 3.0 advisory board. The objective of Aquapioneers is to promote aquaponics as a sustainable farming method through workshops and lectures.

An Aquapioneers installation in Valldaura Labs in Collserola Park in Barcelona.

Collaboration in Barcelona's 2030 Sustainable Food Strategy

It is also worth mentioning that several collaborations are occurring at the Barcelona city level thanks to the elaboration of Barcelona's 2030 Sustainable Food Strategy. Notably, the city council is continuing to support Agropolis, a space for participation, public-private collaboration, and joint action between institutions and organizations to make the current food system healthier and more sustainable.

Barcelona was the 2021 World Capital of Sustainable Food. As part of this project, over 90 projects and 200 activities relating to sustainable food were promoted, in collaboration with farmers, associations, businesses, the world of science and local authorities. This video recaps the events and milestones in the city.

Some extra examples of effective combining in the Food Tech 3.0 community

• Vilagreens & Green in Blue (innovator & advisory board) collaborated on a local farmer's market

• Ma! Condimentos Vivos de Asia, Vilagreens, & LEKA (innovators & advisory board) teamed up to create unique dishes for the FoodSHIFT2030 Stakeholder conference

• Gaia Espirulina & Tetuán Alimenta with Labs Bibliotecarios in Madrid (innovator & external) united to develop Gaia Espirulina's pilot project in a local community garden

• Tectum Gardens & Madrid and Barcelona rooftops (innovator & externals) together found areas to pilot Tectum Gardens

• SoloAceite & small-scale producers in Galicia (innovator & externals) formed an association of organic and high quality extra-virgin olive oil producers