The massive transformation of our global food systems promises to be one of the great definers of our time. There is no chance that we can “fix” our climate challenges without at the same time addressing food production. Nor can we “fix” our global health and obesity epidemics without transforming our food systems. However, food can be a tool to achieve strategic goals for both society and individual companies such as better school results, higher productivity or even social cohesion.

This guide has been written to give the reader a basic introduction to the world of food and innovation and aims to provide a background on which to elaborate further – why not together with the House of Innovation at the Stockholm School of Economics and Sweden Foodtech, the two parties behind it?

Our joint, fundamental insight is that food needs to be seen from the perspective of a system that has profound effects on our planet and the people that inhabit it. In fact, the value – and the corresponding costs – of food go way past the plate and must be analyzed as part of a system that extends far beyond the food value chain.

The inclusion of new players, business models and technologies in the world’s largest sector will lead to new value creation and value re-distribution. This calls for institutions such as business schools to start engaging with the transformation. While the first readers of this guide have been the students of the Management of Innovation course at the Stockholm School of Economics, we hope they will be far from the last. So please go ahead, read this guide, and if you like it, recommend it to friends, family, schoolmates, business associates or whoever you think would benefit from a deeper understanding of food and its ongoing transformation. It is, after all, the greatest sector you can engage with, be it for the chance to do good, build great new companies or just enjoy life through the lens of food.