Students and academics at University of Limerick’s Kemmy Business School, plus their counterparts from France and Finland, have imagined what a circular food economy might look like for Limerick in the future.
The students worked on their proposals in recent weeks as part of the Digital Futures Lab, a futures and foresight research and innovation programme designed to imagine market futures in which technology can act as a driver of positive change, led by Dr Annmarie Ryan of UL’s Kemmy Business School.
The unique programme combines advances in futures and foresight with market shaping and has developed tools and frameworks to enable participants, stakeholders and industry partners to develop visioning practices to reimagine and shape Limerick’s innovation ecosystem.
Proposals were developed including a ‘City Farm Lab’ to allow the Limerick public to experience an immersive education in living a sustainable life; a ‘Smart Farm’ using artificial intelligence technology to create a circular economy; proposals for a singular waste company to serve the region as well as visions for a local Food Lab where experimenting and sharing ideas about food could drive the Limerick public to grow their own food and drive change.
“In 2022 the lab focused on visioning a Circular Food Economy for Limerick, working across several scales, including university campus, metropolitan area, and region,” explained Dr Ryan, a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at KBS and the founder of UL’s Digital Futures Lab.
“Teams engaged with stakeholders and industry partners to map current systems, envision possible futures using scenario processes and design market including roles, relationships and devices required to realise these visions. We see this lab as an important engine in the driver of innovation in the Limerick region,” added Dr Ryan.
The lab expanded this year to include students taking part in EULab, an Erasmus+ funded strategic partnership piloting European mission led virtual exchange. This included students from Oulu University Business School in Finland and Audencia Business School, France both partners on the programme.
As well as many teams attending the hybrid lab there were also many guests including Limerick City Councillor Olivia O’Sullivan. Dr Ryan said that Cllr O’Sullivan “gave great feedback to teams regarding the innovative ideas on show from the students”.
For more information on the EULab, check out Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, plus the website.
