SBRI: Approaches to encourage and enhance schools' knowledge of health benefits by sourcing from local food supply chains

This competition is a ‘first of a kind’ demonstrator initiative, on behalf of Cardiff Capital Region (CCR), Cardiff Council and Monmouthshire Council, to accelerate innovation in the CCR region and enable projects to develop innovative solutions which can significantly improve the sustainable production and supply of food. There are four simultaneous challenges: click here to see details of all four.

An online briefing event (covering all four challenges) will be held on Thursday 21st September, 10am-11.30am: click here to register for a place.

The challenge: Approaches to encourage and enhance schools’ knowledge of the health benefits of sourcing from local food supply chains

This challenge is an opportunity to demonstrate a developed solution and add value by addressing school educational enrichment of regional food systems through impacting and interactive approaches. This challenge sets out to nurture new thinking to draw in the regional growing centres and create young champions nested within their community marketplaces. We would also like to bring about the better use of local produce and encourage behavioural change across customers and suppliers.

Innovative, interactive, and engaging new thinking that pulls in the attention and interest in regionally grown nutritious food among our children and young adults in schools is keenly of interest to the South Wales Cardiff Capital Region. The challenge is strongly seeking approaches that consider healthy and nutritious living and how these might be applied to local schools and council influenced food ecosystems. This would also encourage local supply chains and lead to reduced emissions from food imports.

It is envisaged that this challenge will encompass the use of land and digital tools and technology to better visualise or utilise the land within the region, training tools to encourage farmers and schools to collaborate on food choices and approaches to encourage healthier food choices within local schools, and council owned food ecosystems and beyond.

In Scope

• Near market ready solutions are invited to provide innovative approaches for inducing behavioural change among school children that increases the interest and education of the region’s locally grown produce and champions of healthy eating.
• Initiatives and interventions that will deliver educational experiences and training that inspire and excite a marketplace for regionally grown produce.
• Initiatives and interventions that build in the awareness and importance of carbon abatement and climate impact around the regional food supply sectors, targeting school age children and young adults.
• Approaches that generate young person interest and engagement in good food origins and enrich content for onward school curriculum content.
• Credit will be given for initiatives that champion the educational value from the classroom to home environments, influencing home provision meals/school lunch provision.
• In addition, initiatives and interventions that lower the levels of food waste within school meal processes including the use of waste ingredients for meal preparation.
• Solutions that tie in school education frameworks and local authority programmes including edible playgrounds, universal primary free school meals roll out, curriculum development, school improvement programme and new school builds.
• All approaches must resonate with audiences that may be disengaged from the localised food supply and not necessarily in support of adopting a nutritious diet, such as consumers/citizens, businesses, households, school children, young adults, and low-income groups.

Suggested approaches could include digital and non-digital solutions but are not limited to:

• Gamification or nudging solutions
• Communication and training solutions
• Education or incentivisation solutions
• Cross cutting approaches in other sectors including, but not limited to, Health, Transport and Education

Out of scope

• Flyers or leaflet-based dissemination
• Biased approaches that exclude specific dietary types

Who can apply?

Any organisation can submit an application, although it is expected that opportunities presented by SBRI will be particularly attractive for SMEs. Pre-startup companies may apply, but contracts must be awarded to legal entities. Universities may apply; however they must demonstrate a route to market, i.e.the application must include a plan to commercialise the results.

Funding Allocation and Project Details

The competition will run in two phases (demonstrator and scale up). Applications will be assessed using the evaluation criteria provided in the tender documents.

Contracts will be awarded to successful proposals of up to £0.8m to deliver the demonstrator and up to £1m for scale up of the demonstration model.

All sums indicated are exc. of VAT (net).

• Demonstrator contracts are intended to develop and evaluate prototypes of demonstration proposals. It is anticipated that projects will run for 10 months. Up to £0.8m of funding per project has been assigned to this phase.  The final allocation of budget to projects will be difficult to predict at this stage so applicants are encouraged to consider a range of delivery options and budgets in their proposals to maximise the funding available.
• Scale Up contracts are intended to provide organisations, successful in demonstrator phase, with an opportunity to scale up their innovative solutions, and it is anticipated that projects will run for a maximum of 12 months. Up to £1m of funding per project has been assigned to this phase. Again, final allocation of budget to projects will be difficult to predict at this stage so applicants are encouraged to consider a range of delivery options and budgets in their proposals to maximise the funding available.
• The total funding for the Challenge can change and the funders have the right to:
  • Adjust the provisional funding allocation between the Phases; and
  • Apply a portfolio approach.

For full details of funding, technical and functional requirements, and timescales, visit the SBRI Centre of Excellence at the link below.

For any enquiries about this competition e-mail: foodchallenge@cardiff.gov.uk