New research project aims to cut emissions and food waste in the grocery industry
13 March 2025Reitan Retail has partnered with BI Norwegian Business School to launch a groundbreaking research project aimed at developing solutions to reduce emissions and food waste within the grocery sector.
The project called "Smart Food Flow (Smart Matflyt)" will utilize advanced analytics and pioneering research to create a solid knowledge base for optimizing value chains in the grocery industry. With access to real data from REMA 1000, the project aims to address some of the industry’s most challenging issues.
"Technology and analysis are crucial in reducing food waste and emissions in our industry, and we face a significant innovation gap that must be bridged. Collaboration with academia is essential," says Ole Robert Reitan, CEO of Reitan Retail.
"The grocery sector bears a significant responsibility, and at Reitan Retail, we have high ambitions for the future of commerce. We are excited to contribute to this research alongside highly skilled researchers from BI," adds Reitan, who is also an alumni from BI Norwegian Business School.
The project will be led by Professor Fabian N. Harang and is part of the newly established research center AMOR – Center for Applied Mathematics and Operations Research at BI Norwegian Business School.
“The goal of Smart Food Flow is to combine advanced methods from mathematics, statistics, and operationsmanagement to develop data-driven strategies in forecasting demand, pricing, and logistics optimization. The development of new models can be used as decision-making tools to reduce the overall environmental impact”, says Harang.
President at Norwegian Business School, Karen Spens, says the collaboration with Reitan is an important step to link research and business to address global societal challenges.
“Smart Food Flow serves as a highly exciting example of how academia, in close collaboration with the industry, will attempt to provide solutions that promote both sustainability and economic growth. We thank Reitan Retail for their significant contribution and commitment to these challenges.”
About the Project:
- Smart Food Flow is an interdisciplinary research initiative at BI Norwegian Business School that combines techniques from stochastic analysis, machine learning, operations management, and optimal transport theory to develop models that both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and food waste in the grocery industry.
- The UN's Sustainable Development Goals 12 (responsible consumption and production) and 13 (climate action) are central to the project.
- The project also integrates transport and logistics analyses to reduce emissions throughout the supply chain. The project's initial timeframe is five years.