We live immersed in the food paradox: whilst one-fifth of all food produced is wasted, one-quarter of households are food insecure. Food banks seek to address this contradiction, but the current food-bank model is inefficient and insufficient, especially in the wake of the pandemic, which has seen a 30% increase in the number of people requesting assistance across Europe. That is the starting point for this study, which sets out to explore how we can rethink the model of food redistribution through food banks. How can we reinvent their mission and role of providing healthy food and complementary and comprehensive services to the people most in need?

In the 8th edition of the  Antenna for Social Innovation, entitled From warehouses to platforms: reinventing food banks through the lens of the digital economy, we examine to what extent and under what circumstances digitising food banks would increase their impact and efficiency. The research also includes 12 case studies of digital social innovation in the food sector, as sources of inspiration based on public and private experiences (both for-profit and third-sector) and their use of digital tools and ‘platformisation’.

Presentation of the study

Full publication available in English
Executive Summary available in English and Spanish

Thanks to the collaboration of "la Caixa" and the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP)