Workshop Scope
Every city depends on food every day, yet food systems are rarely part of smart-city planning. This workshop explores how food can be recognised as essential urban infrastructure and built into the development of smarter, healthier and more sustainable cities. The session draws on the experience of SACOMA Global Foods Innovation and its SACOMA Nexus platform, a data-driven approach that connects agricultural producers with urban markets, building on SACOMA´s collaboration and proof-of-concept work with Gangnam-gu and the Seoul AI Foundation. The discussion is organised around three pillars: empowering producers, protecting health and reducing emissions. It will also look at how food traceability systems are developed, and how a business adapts its strategy, leadership and organisation as technology changes.

The workshop is intended for anyone interested in smart-city development, sustainable food systems, digital innovation, agrifood business models and the links between food, health and the environment.

Please note that this is a presentation-only workshop. Contributions are not submitted as papers, are not peer-reviewed and will not be published in the conference proceedings. The session combines presentations with an open discussion, and conferemce participants are welcome to attend.

Objectives

1. Explore how food supply chains can be built into smart-city planning as essential urban infrastructure.
2. Present the SACOMA Nexus model and discuss how data-driven tools can connect producers with urban markets, improve supply-chain transparency and support lower- carbon distribution.
3. Share experience and lessons on organisational change, leadership, international collaboration and sustainable business development in the agrifood sector.
4. Encourage cross-sector discussion on how cities, businesses, universities, producers and citizens can work together to create inclusive, resilient and human-centred food systems.

Topics of Interest:

• Food systems as urban infrastructure and their role in smart-city development
• AI, IoT and smart technologies in agriculture and food distribution
• Data-driven agrifood platforms, digital trade and producer access to urban markets
• Food traceability systems from farm to consumer
• Low-carbon food supply chains, carbon tracking and emissions reduction
• Nutritional transparency, food safety and consumer health
• Human-centred leadership, organisational change and sustainable agrifood business
models: the SACOMA experience

Who should attend

Researchers, educators, entrepreneurs, practitioners and policymakers working on smart cities, agrifood innovation, sustainable supply chains, public health, digital transformation and inclusive urban development.

Format and Participation

• Format: in-person
• Duration: 1-2 hours. The final schedule will be confirmed by the Organizing Committee
• Publication: Presentation only
• How to take part: There is no call for papers for this workshop

Workshop organizers

• Perez Ochieng (Lead organizer), CEO and Co-Founder, SACOMA Global Food Innovation, United Kingdom