Building a research infrastructure for food, nutrition and health research (FNH-RI) in Europe

Unique is the integration of consumer data into the platform. Traditionally research data is collected through projects. Using new technologies, it has become possible for consumers to collect various and large amounts of data (big data) about themselves and their surroundings. This new source of data enables research to expand beyond traditional ways of data collection.

Example use cases using this new platform include:

• Food system - Protein shift
• Consumer - Smart kitchen
• Preventive health care system - Smart home for elderly

See presentation for more information about the platform and its use cases.

FNH-RI will set up an overarching platform to create an integrated research environment for Europe, establishing a one-stop-shop for researchers. Furthermore, as a subset of FNH-RI, they will build a consumer data platform to monitor consumers about their consumer behaviour and food intake. This development aims to eliminate the existing knowledge gap due to fragmentation of data infrastructures and data standards. Preventing this fragmentation will lead to food and health research data being accessible and facilitates cross border research.

The platform coincides well in the Wageningen University & Research domain of food, nutrition and health. The project started in 2011 and is now in transition from the design phase to the preparatory phase together with 6 European member states. The research infrastructure aims to be fully operational by 2024.

About WDCC lunch meetings
The Wageningen Data Competence Center organizes a lunch meeting every two or three weeks, where topics are presented and discussed along the overall theme of (big) data.

Contact the WDCC for more information on these lunch meetings.