To give visitors to the Wageningen Campus an impression of the likely food systems of the future, Wageningen University & Research has developed the interactive WUR G.O. tour. This journey of discovery includes finding solutions to the challenges that lie ahead.
Visitors to the Wageningen Campus can download the WUR G.O. app free of charge. “The app enables them to hunt for ‘treasures’, which are actually solutions to food issues,” explains WUR G.O. project leader Esther Hogeveen. “These appear on people’s phones in the form of green icons during the tour. Once found, a video pops up with a WUR expert asking a question about the food system of the future. Give the correct answer and a new video starts explaining the solution and how WUR is working toward it.”
Biggest challenge
Topics include the transformation of food systems, technological solutions and changes in consumer behaviour. The emphasis lies on proteins as they are one of the largest challenges. A shift to more vegetable and new protein sources will be essential to feed everyone in the future. Examples of related questions are: ‘How can we develop tasty meat replacements based on new protein sources?’ and ‘How do we convince people to make healthy and sustainable food choices?’.
Exciting quest
WUR G.O. was developed by a number of WUR experts. The initiative came from a group of Wageningen food scientists looking to make ‘the food system of the future’ more tangible to colleagues, campus visitors, prospective students and all other interested parties. They asked colleagues to think about the most suitable approach and the input resulted in this concept. “By combining augmented reality characteristics and the playful aspect of ‘treasure hunting’ from existing games with scientific insights, we’re making the quest to find the food systems of the future more exciting and accessible than ever,” says Hogeveen.
For more information:
Wageningen University & Research
www.wur.nl