Sustainability and innovation in the Norwegian food system

Summary

Sustainability is increasingly important to consumers, to firms and to governments. This report centers around the question of “How sustainability is driving innovation in the Norwegian food sector?”. We aim to clarify and establish what we mean by terms such as sustainability and innovation, and how the concepts are related and come together in the food system. The second part reviews theoretical perspectives that can contribute to understanding systemic change and innovation towards sustainability. The third and final part is an empirical exploration of the mainstream Norwegian food industry. It reports the results of a first round of investigations of how major actors in the food industry in Norway think about and handle sustainability issues. The results will serve as a starting point for more in depth inquiry about the same topic.