How Invisible Innovation May Be the Future of Food

It’s the first time I’m hearing the term ‘invisible innovation’ and it may be yours too. No, it’s not technology that would make things invisible to the naked eye, as if we were in the realm of fantasy. Rather, it’s a term used to describe a certain way of doing things that can benefit us without seeing it outright. This may be more easily envisioned as process innovation. For example, when a process is simplified through automation, it makes it easier for people to do certain tasks but it’s not something readily recognized as innovation because it’s not really flashy. Anyway, in the food industry, invisible or hidden innovation may be the key to solving some of the major problems we face, according to Beatriz Jacoste Lozano, director of the KM ZERO Food Innovation Hub.

Essentially, what they want to target is the fact that about one-third of food goes to waste. And the effects of that reverberates not just to those people in hunger but also to the environment since food production is one of the leading contributors to pollution. In light of this, one of the things they are looking into, for example, is regenerative agriculture, which basically reduced the amount of water needed for the soil to stay healthy. It’s not grand or mind-blowing, but it makes production efficient and helps the environment. Another possible area they want to target is the use of plastics, and their organization is planning to partner up with the startup, Notpla, which makes compostable packages. .

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