Municipal Partners Wanted | WOGI Urban Food Living Labs – DUT Call 2026

Join a European consortium transforming urban food economies

WOGI Local Living Labs | Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) Call 2026

We are actively seeking a municipal or city-government partner to join our international research and innovation consortium as a funded partner and host an Urban Food Living Lab.

The challenge

European cities face increasing pressure to strengthen local economic resilience, improve access to regional food, reduce resource waste and emissions, and support neighbourhood businesses.

Yet regional producers, urban markets, gastronomy, retailers and consumers often operate through fragmented supply chains, with limited digital coordination and inefficient last-mile logistics.

Our solution

WOGI Local Living Labs will develop, demonstrate and validate integrated urban food-economy models connecting:

• Regional food producers with urban markets, neighbourhood businesses and consumers.

• Digital market infrastructure for demand aggregation, ordering, traceability and supply coordination.

• Circular urban food systems, including waste reduction, resource efficiency and reusable packaging.

• Sustainable urban logistics, including shared distribution, micro-hubs and low-emission delivery.

• Urban Living Labs, enabling municipalities, researchers, SMEs and citizens to co-design and test solutions under real operating conditions.

Our ambition is to create measurable, economically viable and transferable models for resilient neighbourhood economies.

European consortium

The initiative is being developed by World Gastronomy Network Ltd. (Hungary) within a growing interdisciplinary European partnership.

Our consortium development involves universities, applied research institutions, Living Lab specialists, digital technology providers, regional innovation organisations and local food-system stakeholders across Europe.

The partnership brings together complementary expertise in sustainable food systems, urban innovation, digital coordination, regional economic development and real-world experimentation.

We are now prioritising the inclusion of a committed municipal partner to strengthen the consortium's urban implementation capacity.

What we offer municipalities

Selected municipalities would have the opportunity to:

• Become an active partner in an international DUT research and innovation consortium.

• Co-design and host a local Urban Food Living Lab.

• Pilot innovative neighbourhood food-economy and circular logistics solutions.

• Collaborate with European researchers, technology providers and innovation organisations.

• Generate measurable evidence to support local economic development, sustainability and urban policy.

• Apply for national DUT funding, subject to the relevant funding agency's eligibility rules and co-financing requirements.

Priority countries

We particularly welcome expressions of interest from municipalities in:

Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Norway and Sweden.

These countries offer potentially relevant national funding routes for municipal participation, subject to confirmation of topic coverage, organisation eligibility, funding intensity and available budgets.

We also welcome enquiries from other DUT-participating countries where municipal funding can be confirmed.

DUT topic alignment

Primary topic: 15-minute City – Topic 3: Nurture neighbourhood economies – activate innovation in local everyday offers.

Complementary topic: Circular Urban Economies – Topic 3: Rethinking urban production for circular and resilient cities.

Timeline and commitment

Pre-proposal deadline: 17 November 2026.

We are currently at the pre-proposal stage. We therefore seek an initial expression of interest, a designated municipal contact person and agreement in principle on a potential demonstration role.

A detailed work plan and budget would be developed collaboratively during the full-proposal stage, expected between February and April 2027, if the consortium is invited to proceed.

Please note that some national funding agencies may require additional information or separate national submissions already during the pre-proposal stage.

Contact and next steps

If your municipality is interested in joining our European consortium, please contact us as soon as possible for a short introductory discussion.

Dipl.-Ing. Gabor Andras Varga
World Gastronomy Network Ltd.
Email: info@wogi.pro

Let's turn local food systems into engines of resilient, circular and inclusive neighbourhood economies.