The way we work

• The program is open to all and participation is voluntary.
• We make data cooperation in the food chain concrete through co-development projects.
• Our development work is based on open standards and harmonised data and operating models that enable data sharing between actors.
• We seek competitiveness for the industry, not a competitive advantage for individual players. We do not restrict competition in the market.
• We are increasing the efficiency of the Finnish food chain, its international competitiveness and its capacity to meet increasing regulatory requirements.

The Food Data Finland program promotes data sharing between actors through open international standards:

• The standards define a interoperable structure for the data, making it shareable between operators.
• The open standards are not tied to a specific technology and are not an IT system.
• Standardisation promotes data sharing in Finland and internationally, but does not share data.
• In standardisation, rules must be agreed, but the use of a standard is not mandatory.
• Standardisation is allowed from the point of view of the competition laws.

Read more: Questions and answers on supply chain data standards

Coordinator

The project is coordinated by GS1 Finland, an open and neutral actor that provides a neutral platform for food chain stakeholders to network and develop their own sectors in cooperation. GS1 also actively implements development projects within the project.

Tasks of the coordinator:

• coordinating the cooperation of the participants
• communicating the project and providing information to the member network
• encouraging members to cooperate in development projects
• organising member network events
• providing and maintaining the member network platform
• supporting the refining of development project ideas
• reporting to Business Finland

Member network

All Finnish and international organisations interested in developing Finland's data-driven food chain can join the program's member network. Members of the network pay an annual fee, the amount of which is graduated according to the nature of the organisation's activities and turnover.

Read more about Food Data Finland membership

Management team

The member organisations of the program's management team are Apetit, Atria, The Finnish Food and Drink Industries’ Federation (ETL), Fazer, GS1 Finland, HKFoods, Kesko, The Finnish Grocery Trade Association (PTY), The Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK), SOK and Valio. The members pay an annual management team fee.

Tasks of the management team:

• promoting the co-developed operating models in the food chain
• activating food chain companies to cooperate in projects
• reviewing and prioritising the proposals of the legislative group
• recommending project proposals for funding decisions

Legislative group

The tasks of the legislative group, composed of experts from MTK, ETL, PTY and GS1, are:

• anticipating future legislative data needs and helping the chain to respond to future requirements in time
• jointly identifying those laws and needs that have a broad impact on the whole chain and have significant (cost) implications
• providing inputs to legislation related co-development projects

Network of technology suppliers

The tasks of the technology suppliers´ group are:

• evaluating solution drafts for development projects from the point of view of technical feasibility and development needs
• providing long-term technical support for the innovation and deployment of new solutions by enterprises.