Healthy Food Design in a Co-creation Ecosystem: An Integrated Strategy for Education, Research, and Innovation in Sustainable Food System 4.0

Abstract

As global population growth and health consciousness rise, traditional food systems face severe challenges in meeting demands for sustainability, nutrition, and personalization. Existing research predominantly explores food innovation from singular technological or managerial perspectives, lacking a systematic framework that integrates design thinking, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and capacity building. A significant research gap exists, particularly in how to construct a dynamic and efficient co-creation ecosystem to drive healthy food design. This paper aims to build a triple-helix integration strategy for education, research, and innovation, exploring, from the unique perspective of the design discipline, the methods and pathways for systematically promoting healthy food design through a co-creation ecosystem within the context of Sustainable Food System 4.0. The study employs a multi-case analysis and system dynamics modeling, selecting five leading global food innovation hubs as cases, combined with in-depth interview data from 150 industry experts and consumers, to construct a co-creation ecosystem model comprising four core subsystems: Technology Enablement, Multi-stakeholder Collaboration, Policy Guidance, and Capacity Building. The findings reveal that the early integration of design thinking significantly increases the success rate of new product development (by an average of 35%) and consumer acceptance (by an average of 42%). A co-creation ecosystem empowered by a digital platform can effectively integrate resources across the entire chain from consumer insight to market launch, reducing the product development cycle by an average of 28%. This research not only provides a new theoretical framework for healthy food design but also offers actionable strategies for policymakers, educational institutions, and food enterprises to build efficient innovation ecosystems, holding significant theoretical and practical importance for promoting the sustainable transformation of the global food system.