Swiss Research

Switzerland has got the right idea. National Research Programmes are a part of the Swiss National Science Foundation and are funded by government money to do research into and solve current issues. What's the latest? NRP 69. Recently given 11 million in Swiss francs (a little over $12 million US) to conduct 21 different research projects covering how to positively impact consumer consumption patterns and ways to improve the sustainability of food production. They have three questions on their website that drives their goals:

• How can the people of Switzerland be encouraged to eat healthily?
• How can products that are healthy and fit for consumption be made available at affordable prices?
• How can the production, processing and distribution of food be managed effectively with the least possible impact on the environment?

It'll be interesting to see what results they come to in their research. It's inspiring though to be aware that there are some heavily-backed sustainability-focused scientific work being done. A lot of the time, it seems like we're entrenched in reactionary mode, finding out that there is a problem and then trying to fix the direct symptoms of that problem. The Swiss model, I believe, is less reactionary in that it's recognized the problem facing their public and they are now trying to find the root of it to fix it there.

They're also going at it from a great marketing perspective by figuring out consumer's consumption patterns and figuring out ways to influence behavior positively.