Feeding the Future - Charting the University of Guelph's role in advancing Ontario's Agri-Food Innovation System

 

As the University of Guelph celebrates the Ontario Agricultural College’s 150th anniversary, the time is right to leverage the past, reflect on the present and look to the future, doing what U of G does best – partnering, collaborating and innovating to make Ontario’s agri-food sector the best in the world.

University of Guelph is aligning with government and industry to lay the groundwork for the future — an efficient, productive and impactful agri-food innovation system that strengthens Ontario’s economy and benefits the health and well-being of all Ontarians.

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From vision to action - Feeding the future brings together research, government and industry for a dynamic four-phase project aimed at strengthening the province's agri-food innovation system. Feeding the Future is a process that will involve deep listening, active engagement and collaboration with key stakeholders. Together we will create action plans that harness opportunities to build a sustainable, resilient and trail-blazing agrifood sector in Ontario. 1. LISTENING & DIALOGUE - OUTPUTS - Stakeholder interviews, build relationships with external stakeholders, collaborate on visioning with internal stakeholders (Spring/Summer 2024). Path to 2: Three Venn Diagrams with each circle representing Research, Industry and Government and in the middle of the Venn Diagram is an arrow pointing from Agri-Food Innovation System. 2. SYNTHESIZING - OUTPUTS - Identify key agri-food sector challenges and opportunities, develop focus areas for action, form collaborative innovation teams between government industry and the university to idealize potential solutions (Summer 2024). 3. VALIDATING & PLANNING - OUTPUTS - Solicit feedback from government, industry, and the university on the solutions generated, make iterations, support the innovation teams to develop action plans (Fall 2024/Winter 2025). 4. REPORTING & TARGETING COMMUNICATIONS - OUTPUTS - Galvanize support for a consolidated body of investment proposals that align with the action plans, identify avenues for implementation, determine additional activities as needed (Winter/Spring 2025).