RADIANT implements a suite of strategic and fully inclusive multi-actor engagement methods to co-develop solutions and tools to ensure that agrobiodiversity in the form of underutilised crops (UCs) is realised via Dynamic Value Chains (DVCs). RADIANT characterises DVCs as ’a system-state where open information sharing among all value-chain actors allows resilient adaptation to disruptions and sustainable economic development’. RADIANT adopts a ‘Theory of Change’ approach, where desired system-level states, such as crop diversification, environmental and agrobiodiversity preservation, and fair economic development are monitored and mapped to identify and implement the necessary transformation avenues. RADIANT’s 28 multi-actor consortium is composed of highly skilled value chain actors, researchers, and end-users. The scientific excellence of the work plan will release the value of UCs and enable a transformation towards sustainable DVCs that foster agrobiodiversity in educational, financial, technological settings and effectively provisions UCs to farmers’ fields and consumers’ tables. This will be achieved via eight complementary work packages to: identify, collect, and multiply the genetic resources of core UCs for breeding and farming; widen UC recognition by capturing their ecosystem services; enhance their processing by co-creating novel food and non-food products; invite stakeholders and aspiring participatory farmers into a capacity-building, mentoring-network to trial, test, and embed UCs in sustainable DVCs; co-creating Apps and ‘UC-Transition Diaries’ to record their transformation; and engage stakeholders to co-design policy instruments, and deliver a decision support tool to create sustainable avenues for DVCs. In sum, the RADIANT approach will empower value chain and policy actors to reach out to 1 million farmers and more than 60 million potential consumers to promote the uptake of UCs in farming, processing, manufacturing, and retailing practices.

Agro-industrial residual biomass, side streams and food production by-products like legumes, fungi and coffee are potential sources of valuable ingredients even though the routes for their exploitation are still at an early stage. Pursuing the ambition of achieving prolific valorization of untapped biomass streams, the project R%D&I activities and partners of Prolific have been positioned around a central innovation cycle that is mainly driven by industrial end-users who exactly know the needs of their customers and the technical constraints and industrial environment in their respective sector. The PROLIFIC project will apply a range of processing technologies to recover significant amounts of proteins/peptides and other value added compounds (e.g. carotenoids, phenols, caffeine and fibers) from industrial processing residues of legumes (seeds of peas, beans and chickpea), fungi (cuttings and mycelia of different species) and coffee (silver skin residue and not compliant roasted seeds). The economically and environmentally sustainable extraction, enzymatic modification, and conditioning techniques will be upscaled in industrially relevant environment. This will enable the production of consequent amounts of compounds and fractions necessary for the production of 16 product prototypes for the food, feed, packaging and cosmetic sectors. The Prolific project will assess the environmental, societal, ethical, safety, and regulatory issues at each step of the targeted value chains. SME and large companies strive at achieving competitive biomass exploitation and attracting when needed additional investors. The industrial partners business strategies for the future market penetration starts with the clear identification of the customer needs and goes up to the preparation of give-aways of food and cosmetics prototyped products as a reward for filling in questionnaires about the Prolific products along with intensive dissemination and communication.