Innovation for Food Systems: Simon Barnes at Sustainable Foods 2026

At the Sustainable Foods conference in London this week, Growing Kent & Medway Programme Director Simon Barnes shared his vision for how regional collaboration can bring together the fragmented UK food system. Speaking on Wednesday 28^th January 2026, Simon explored the vital role that local government, businesses, and universities play in driving growth.

Strategy Rich, Example Poor

Simon addressed a common frustration in the sector: the gap between high-level policy and real-world results. He noted that while there is no shortage of official strategies, there is a lack of practical examples that industry can follow.

"We are strategy rich and example poor," Simon explained. "We want the examples we are creating in Kent and Medway to help everyone understand how to actually make a food system work."

Simon highlighted that Growing Kent & Medway has already become a trusted "one-stop shop" for this kind of practical innovation. This is reflected in a recent independent report by Strat House, which valued the Growing Kent & Medway brand at between £3.2 million and £5.5 million.

Delivering a Resilient Food System

Simon outlined four key areas where food system innovation is most urgent to ensure we produce healthy, affordable food:

• Smart Horticulture: Making long-term investments – like the ten years it takes to develop a new orchard – more productive through technology.

• Healthy Food Innovation: Developing plant-based proteins and healthier options that appeal to consumers.

• A Circular Bioeconomy: Designing new products from "second harvest" and surplus food, such as using brewers' grain to grow mushrooms.

• Efficient Supply Chains: Using digital tools to reduce the "incredible amount of waste" in the system, where one in eight boxes of fruit is currently lost.

Scaling for the Future

Showcasing the future of food innovation: Food Accelerator founders Tina (Humanitea), Louisa (Wildly Tasty), and Winifred (Root Mylk) present their sustainable products alongside programme manager Valerie Pondaven at the Business Design Centre.

A major theme of the talk was the challenge of scaling small businesses into established companies. Simon argued that the system must support businesses to "fail fast and fail early" so they can find the right path to growth without unnecessary risk.

Several innovative founders from our Food Accelerator – a collaborative programme with the University of Greenwich (Natural Resources Institute and Medway Food Innovation Centre) – also attended the event. Many of these founders have successfully developed new products, yet Simon highlighted the urgent need to help these innovators transition from start-ups to larger businesses.

"Scaling is a major issue in this sector," Simon noted. "How do you build a business of 20 or 30 people as a food innovator? We need to encourage the supermarkets to get these new foods on the shelves."

Looking Forward

Building a stronger ecosystem: The "From Ground to Growth" bid team (L-R: Sarah Nurden, David Wimble, Carol Ford, and Simon Barnes) discuss their vision for regional innovation alongside founder Winifred from Root Mylk.

To build on this work, an expanded team is currently bidding for the Local Innovation Partnership Fund (LIPF) with a new project: "from Ground to Growth". If successful, this project will build on the existing Growing Kent & Medway ecosystem to drive innovation and help more businesses get their products onto supermarket shelves.

By connecting local government and researchers with our network of over 700 businesses, we are creating a team around founders, so they don't have to innovate in isolation. As Simon concluded, the goal is to make healthy food the easy choice for everyone, regardless of where they live.

Gallery: Sustainable Foods 2026