After five years of work across the European agri-food value chain, SISTERS has reached its final milestone: the project’s Final Conference, held on 23 March 2026 in Brussels.

The event brought together 50 participants from the agri-food sector, institutions and innovation ecosystems to review the project’s main outcomes, showcase validated solutions and discuss how these results can continue supporting the reduction of food loss and waste across Europe.

From pilots to proven solutions

The Final Conference marked the closing point of a project built around one central idea: food loss and waste cannot be solved through isolated actions. It requires systemic innovation, connecting production, logistics, packaging, retail and consumer behaviour.

Throughout the event, partners presented the solutions developed and tested during the project, including advances in digitalisation for production, Logistics 4.0, sustainable packaging, retail tools, behavioural change actions and recommendations for scaling the results towards market-ready applications. Several of these outcomes are now available through the project’s public resources, including the SISTERS policy briefs and practice abstracts, which gather key lessons and recommendations developed during the project.

As Carolina Peñalva, SISTERS Project Coordinator at AITIIP Technology Centre, explained:

“After four and a half years of intense work, SISTERS has demonstrated that reducing food waste systemically is possible through the combination of technology and new business models.”

Among the results highlighted were the Regioneo platform, tested by more than 100 primary producers for short-chain products, and the project’s smart containers, which reduced weight loss in sensitive products such as broccoli from 27% to just 2%.

A value-chain approach to food waste reduction

One of SISTERS’ key contributions has been its work across multiple stages of the agri-food chain. Rather than focusing on a single point of intervention, the project has tested solutions designed to prevent losses before they occur and improve decision-making throughout the system.

In primary production, SISTERS supported the development of a European short-chain platform to facilitate direct sales and the use of surplus products, including fruits and vegetables that may otherwise be left out of the market. More information on this solution is available through the dedicated Regioneo resource page.

In logistics, smart containers and sensor kits were developed to monitor transport and storage conditions, providing traceability and helping operators make better decisions when handling sensitive products.

In packaging, the project advanced bio-based packaging solutions and active packaging technologies aimed at extending shelf life and reducing avoidable losses, in line with circular economy principles.

These innovations show how technology can help preserve product quality, reduce inefficiencies and keep more food within the value chain.

Retail as a key point of intervention

Retail was another major focus of the project, with solutions designed to reduce waste at the point of sale while supporting better stock and cold-chain management.

SISTERS tested a Seal of Excellence in 35 European supermarkets, helping to standardise 10 best practices for stock optimisation and improved cold management. The project also worked on dynamic labelling mechanisms, allowing retailers to apply automatic discounts to products approaching their expiry date.

This approach helps reduce unnecessary disposal while creating tangible benefits for consumers through access to discounted products that are still suitable for sale.

Beyond technology: behaviour, policy and replication

The Final Conference also underlined that technological innovation alone is not enough. Reducing food loss and waste at scale requires changes in behaviour, strong evidence for decision-makers and clear pathways for replication.

SISTERS has developed actions to support behavioural change, alongside an integrated impact assessment and a replication roadmap to help transfer the project’s results to other contexts. The project’s work on consumer behaviour is reflected in the SISTERS consumer survey, which contributes to understanding how citizens engage with food waste prevention in their daily routines.

The policy and scaling panel held during the conference addressed how validated solutions can move towards higher technology readiness levels and how project outcomes can inform future decisions at national and European level. These discussions are further supported by the project’s policy briefs, developed to share evidence-based recommendations with stakeholders and decision-makers.

As Carolina Peñalva noted, SISTERS has helped provide policymakers with technical evidence on the effectiveness of innovations. The project’s replication roadmap also shows that some solutions, from bioplastic packaging to digital logistics, may have potential beyond the agri-food sector, including applications in pharmaceuticals and floriculture.

Building on the SISTERS legacy

With the project now concluded, the results presented in Brussels remain available to support companies, public administrations, innovation actors and future European initiatives working on food loss and waste reduction.

The conference made clear that SISTERS leaves behind more than individual prototypes or pilots. It offers a set of validated tools, lessons learned and recommendations that can help accelerate the transition towards a more circular, efficient and resilient agri-food system. Additional project materials, including visual and communication resources, are available in the SISTERS media section, while a selection of images from the Final Conference can be explored in the gallery below.

The consortium will continue promoting the adoption of these results through dissemination activities and collaboration with replicators and investors, ensuring that the work carried out during the project can continue generating value beyond its formal end.

Conclusion

The SISTERS Final Conference was not only a closing event. It was a moment to show how five years of collaboration have translated into practical solutions for one of Europe’s most pressing agri-food challenges.

By combining short-chain digital tools, smart logistics, sustainable packaging, retail innovation and behavioural insights, SISTERS has demonstrated that food loss and waste can be addressed more effectively when the entire value chain works together.

The next step is to turn this knowledge into wider adoption. The solutions are there; the challenge now is to scale them, replicate them and keep building on the progress achieved.