Virtual Model
Central to our work, we are building a series of tools around a sophisticated, self-organising (i.e., with intelligent decision-making capability), complex virtual model which can be populated with a country's datasets to understand and develop optimised (i.e. by testing thousands of scenarios) cold-chain for food and health and associated cooling systems to meet a Government's mission-driven social and economic targets and mitigate associated GHG emissions as well as consider how to build resilience against future shocks and disturbances. From this, we can develop a holistic, robust, sequenced and budgeted evidence-driven cold-chain delivery roadmaps.
Horizon Scanning
Help us understand what the food cold-chain might look like / need to look like out to 2050 and estimate future cooling energy demand and GHG emissions. This includes identifying and quantifying the drivers that will/could have the greatest impact (whether it is positive or negative) on the nature and size of the future cold-chain provision as well as demand as well as consider unintended consequences and barriers to success. Drivers may range from population growth or movement, rising incomes, climate change impacts, changes in shopping patterns and food preferences to radical innovations including new refrigeration cycles, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, or drones), IoT, food innovations such as alternative proteins, vertical farming, and new vaccines which might require sub-zero cold-chains etc.
Return on Investment
A further model to quantify and monetise the impacts across social, economic and environmental dimensions from deploying cold-chain, and with the cost estimated from the virtual model, we will calculate the full return on investment to underpin the case of investment for the Government. The model will support Governments to understand the strategic importance of cold-chain as critical infrastructure and their role as a key stakeholder. To date, these wider benefits have not been systematically assessed; the degree to which sustainable and resilient cooling access could enhance economic and social development is not well understood
Cold-Chain Security Index
Currently, equipment is still being deployed in a way that is not future proofed. There have been no/limited efforts on long term assessments of optimising investments and how to manage future risks. We are developing a dynamic, quantitative, and qualitative decision tool to enable governments to (i) audit their cold-chain capacity and capability against availability, affordability, uptake, quality and safety, environmental impact in line with their specific poverty, food security, food loss reduction targets, vaccine and health needs and wider societal and environmental commitments and goals, (ii) to assess the cold-chain for resilience against future shocks, disruptions and risks, including climate change impacts.
Currently, equipment is still being deployed in a way that is not future proofed. There have been no/limited efforts on long term assessments of optimising investments and how to manage future risks. We are developing a dynamic, quantitative, and qualitative decision tool to enable governments to (i) audit their cold-chain capacity and capability against availability, affordability, uptake, quality and safety, environmental impact in line with their specific poverty, food security, food loss reduction targets, vaccine and health needs and wider societal and environmental commitments and goals, (ii) to assess the cold-chain for resilience against future shocks, disruptions and risks, including climate change impacts.
