Global Food Security: An Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Approach

GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY: AN ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEMS APPROACH

Global food security is society’s most fundamental need and a critical element for well-being and human development. Unfortunately, the production and consumption of food has had disastrous effects on our environment – depleting water resources, decreasing biodiversity and contributing to climate change. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the situation by unleashing a historic hunger crisis that revealed systemic fragilities and islands of inequity. Recognizing that calamities can be the instigators of innovation, the team’s solution centers on addressing the linked imperatives of food security and environmental equilibrium through the lens of entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Their work is based on the premise that there is a dynamic equilibrium between biological, ecological, and organizational ecosystems, which are critical components of the larger food system. Recognizing that without institutional mechanisms to enable relationship-building, learning and collective action, it is difficult to build trust and encourage stakeholders to take calculated risks that bring about large-scale change leading to greater food security and a healthy environment.  An encompassing ecosystem approach is needed to strengthen the social fabric and provide structural support for cooperative competition and innovation.

 Accordingly, they seek to establish the SDSU Global Regenerative Entrepreneurship Hub, a transborder model for thought leadership that unites sectors and disciplines and supports commercialization of regenerative solutions along the entire “seed (and sea) to spoon” pathway.  The aim is to develop and disseminate best practices and form the basis for an inclusive, innovation-based policy agenda.