Design For The Enhancement Of The Agrifood Supply Chain. Towards The Transformation Of Cereal Waste Into A Competitive Industrial Product

Investigating the food system towards goals of stability and sustainability, the research aims to explore – through the specificities of the systemic design approach, able to jointly consider multiple and different information, actors, and strategies – the possibilities and development potential of agro-food waste regeneration processes in a logic of co-evolution (Fassio & Tecco, 2022) oriented towards the development of industrial constructive and restorative solutions, able to influence the environmental, economic and social dimension (Antonelli & Tannir, 2019) of the supply chain on which it works. Intending to increase the enhancement of the agri-food chain and reduce environmental impacts, the research proposes a qualitative investigation in the field of the transformation of industrial cereal waste into competitive industrial products within which the different design approaches – related to experiments with the matter, Material Design; to technologies and methods for the design of products, Product Design; and to the optimisation and transformation of production processes, Process Design – can synergistically and strategically collaborate through the use of the systemic design approach. Through systematising the literature and analysing case studies, the research investigates the characteristics of agro-food waste, the reuse processes, and the companies/start-ups that process them. A series of representative and interpretative diagrams will clarify tools, methods, and practices, enriching the research contribution. The emerging solicitations will induce a phase of direct and indirect experimentation with specific research centers and production contexts whose socio-environmental impact on the territory will be assessed. The final goal of the research is to enhance agro-food waste into a competitive industrial product realised through hybrid innovation practices. Among these, industrial symbiosis processes between companies in the same agrifood chain are critical. The theorization and prefiguration of industrial symbiosis between different production supply chains represent a further departure from originality. The possible merger between the identified cereal supply chain and other Italian production chains with a high environmental impact is proposed both as one of the challenging goals of the research and as a prospect of originality.