Consumer Observatory
Europe’s central hub for consumer insights on agrifood topics.
What is the Consumer Observatory?
Powered by EIT Food, the Consumer Observatory brings together research and consumer insights organisations from across the food system to curate and produce bespoke research, up-to-date analysis, and unique insights from across the agrifood community. It aims to maximise the impact of consumer insights on agrifood topics, delivering greater knowledge, strategy, and guidance to agrifood stakeholders, educators, policymakers, and businesses – helping to bring about change in the agrifood system that is well-informed and consumer-focussed.
This central hub puts insights into consumer behaviour at the heart of the conversation on food sector trends and sustainability – driving forward innovative solutions that are well-informed and consumer-focused.
How does the Consumer Observatory work?
Research and Reports
The Consumer Observatory’s knowledge management system grants users access to all consumer-based research and insights supported by EIT Food. Alongside external insights, reports and studies, this includes the flagship TrustTracker study as well as outputs from the Citizen Participation Forum (CPF).
What is the TrustTracker?
An evidence-based questionnaire completed by approximately 20,000 consumers from 18 European countries to measure consumer trust in the food system, confidence in the integrity of their food products, and motivations towards eating a healthy and sustainable diet. Findings from the TrustTracker provide insights that can be used to help restore trust in the food value chain – from farm to fork. Learn more here.
What is the Citizen Participation Forum?
An online community with approximately 300 participants from 13 European countries, selected on a basis of a medium-to-high level of interest in the food chain. Members of the community take part in regular open discussions, photo assignments, questionnaires, polls and focus group sessions to inform consumer insights on topics and themes such as food innovation and novel foods. Learn more here.
Food Expert Advisory Board
Our Food Expert Advisory Board (FEAB) is a group of European food systems experts who provide new insights, advice and guidance to the Consumer Observatory around existing and emerging challenges in food-related behaviours, and explore new opportunities aligned to food consumption trends.
Leadership Team
The Consumer Observatory is a brand-new approach to consumer engagement, led by a team of organisations including Aarhus University, AZTI, EIT Food, Future of Food Institute, Greenhouse Communications, House of Insights, The REAL Leadership Consultancy, Thinktank International Research, Your Allies, University of Reading and Wageningen Economic Research.
Register your interest
Be the first to access the latest information and data from the Consumer Observatory by registering your interest below.
Further inquiries
If you have a need for consumer insights, you can contact Professor Klaus G. Grunert klg@mgmt.au.dk, Leader of the Consumer Observatory.
For any requests, we will first check what is already known about the topic. If existing knowledge does not answer your questions fully, there are two options:
The Consumer Observatory welcomes proposals for topics to be addressed as part of our core activities. These include a number of qualitative studies using the Citizen Participation Forum, a yearly European survey on consumer trust, and a yearly issue tracking study. Your topic can be included in our research calendar if the insights generated are of common interest and may be shared widely. No additional funding is required in this situation.
If we are unable to include your topic in our research calendar, we can set up a bespoke research project for your insights needs. The Consumer Observatory encourages stakeholders to include the Consumer Observatory in applications for project funding, both from EIT and from other sources like Horizon Europe, to ensure consumer centricity in the work conducted. In such cases, we will provide a cost estimate and these additional costs incurred by the Consumer Observatory have to be part of the proposal budget.
News and updates
Discover the latest news, press releases and updates from the Consumer Observatory.
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