food4future at FONA Forum 2026

These questions were the focus of the FONA Forum 2026, which took place on June 24 and 25, 2026, under the theme “Knowledge. Prosperity. Change – Research with Impact” at Futurium Berlin and online. The forum brought together stakeholders from academia, politics, business, and civil society to discuss research for sustainability, new dynamics of innovation, and concrete paths toward a resilient future.

The event marked the launch of the new FONA strategy. This strategy redefines research for sustainability as a more integrated research and innovation strategy through 2030. The focus is no longer solely on traditional sustainability research, but rather on linking sustainability with competitiveness, technological sovereignty, value creation, and rapid implementation. In this way, the new FONA strategy also ties in with Germany’s High-Tech Agenda and focuses on the question of how research can make concrete contributions to resilient innovation ecosystems, new markets, and societal transformation processes.

Agricultural Systems of the Future (AdZ) was also represented at the FONA Forum 2026. As part of the BMFTR funding initiative, the AdZ consortia are working on innovative approaches for sustainable, resilient, and future-proof agricultural and food systems. In addition to food4future, CUBES Circle and DAKIS also presented insights into their research. Together, the consortia demonstrated how sustainability research, technological innovation, the bioeconomy, and social dialogue can work together to transform agricultural and food systems.

FONA Strategy: From Knowledge to Impact to Transform

The new FONA strategy organizes research for sustainability into several modules. The three main modules, FONA-Insight, FONA-Impact, and FONA-Ignite, describe different stages of maturity in the research and innovation process: from generating scientific insights, through the development, testing, and transfer of innovative solutions, to the search for potential sustainability game-changers. These are complemented by the cross-cutting modules FONA-Talent and FONA-International, which strengthen the promotion of young talent as well as European and global cooperation.

This structure aligns with the agricultural systems of the future and with food4future, because sustainable food systems do not arise solely from individual technological solutions. They require a combination of biological knowledge, technological development, resource-efficient production, societal acceptance, and effective communication. This is where food4future comes in.

The research and technology areas of the new FONA strategy are also reflected in food4future. Of particular relevance here are circular value creation, innovations for quality of life in urban and rural areas, and living spaces and resources. Agricultural and food systems directly link these fields: They equally address natural resources, biodiversity, cycles, regional value creation, food security, and new technologies. At the same time, Food4future and the other AdZ consortia are making a wide range of contributions to “biotechnology,” a key technology in Germany’s High-Tech Agenda.

food4future: Experience the Food of the Future Interactively

At the FONA Forum, the food4future consortium presented the mixed-reality exhibit “Food Visions.” For this exhibit, food4future’s algae reactor was digitally enhanced. Additional layers of information illustrated how innovative cultivation systems work and the role that technology, cycles, and design can play in sustainable food systems.

The exhibit invited visitors not only to view future food as a research topic, but also to experience it interactively. Mixed reality opened up new ways of understanding the complex interrelationships between biology, technology, resource use, and nutrition. This demonstrated how digital educational formats can make research vivid, accessible, and tangible.

In doing so, Food Visions directly aligned with the mission of the FONA Forum: impactful research emerges where scientific findings are translated into practical applications, dialogue, and societal reflection. The exhibit not only showcased the research being conducted by food4future but also demonstrated how future scenarios for food systems can be brought to life and discussed with different target audiences.

Bioeconomy and Food Systems Within Planetary Boundaries

food4future develops approaches to healthy and sustainable nutrition in the face of challenges such as climate change, water scarcity, resource scarcity, and increasing competition for land. The focus is on alternative food sources and innovative production systems, including algae, salt-tolerant plants, and other alternative sources of biomass.

As a result, food4future is closely linked to key questions in the bioeconomy: How can biological resources be used sustainably? How can new bio-based value chains be created? How can production systems be designed to conserve resources, strengthen cycles, and support food security? And how can new food sources be developed and promoted in a way that makes them socially acceptable?

It is precisely this combination of biological research, technological development, and public outreach that makes food4future an important contributor to the agricultural systems of the future. The consortium demonstrates how the bioeconomy need not remain an abstract concept but can be experienced in concrete terms: through cultivation systems, prototypes, real-world laboratory formats, and exhibits that foster dialogue between research, the public, practitioners, and policymakers.

Research Between FONA-Insight and FONA-Impact

food4future places particular emphasis on FONA-Impact. Our goal is not only to make research results visible as scientific output, for example, in the form of publications, but also to achieve concrete impact. The focus is on further developing process and product innovations so that they can be put into practice more quickly and, in the long term, find their way onto the market.

The mixed-reality exhibit “Food Visions” brought this very transition to life. The digitally enhanced algae reactor demonstrated how research findings can be transformed into accessible formats rather than merely being discussed in academic contexts. Visitors were able to explore the biological and technical processes behind alternative cultivation systems and the potential such systems hold for the future of food.

Digital Outreach as a Bridge Between Research and Society

Food Visions placed a special focus on the question of how digital technologies can support science communication and the transfer of sustainability research. Mixed reality makes it possible to display additional layers of information without replacing the actual exhibit. Visitors were able to view the algae reactor as a physical object while simultaneously using digital content to better understand processes, cycles, and interrelationships.

Especially when it comes to complex topics such as sustainable nutrition and alternative food sources, such formats can open up new avenues of engagement. They not only raise the profile of research but also spark discussions about acceptance, practicality in everyday life, resource use, technological development, and possible future scenarios.

food4future as part of the agricultural systems of the future

As part of the agricultural systems of the future, food4future helps make research on sustainable agricultural and food systems visible, accessible, and effective. The consortium combines scientific findings with application-oriented technology development, digital tools, demonstrators, and dialogue formats.

In this way, food4future addresses key priorities of the new FONA strategy: knowledge should be put into practice more quickly, sustainable innovations should be promoted, and new forms of resource-efficient value creation should be enabled. In the context of Germany’s High-Tech Agenda, food4future also demonstrates how sustainability research can contribute to technological sovereignty, competitiveness, and resilient innovation ecosystems.

The FONA Forum provided an ideal setting to present our own research in the context of FONA, the bioeconomy, and the future agricultural systems, and to engage in dialogue with stakeholders from academia, politics, business, and civil society.

We look forward to working together, as part of the agricultural system of the future, to make research on sustainable food systems tangible and effective.

Further information:

FONA Forum 2026: Program
Agricultural Systems of the Future: Website