CO-CREATE · Project

Youth-Driven Obesity Policy Tools That Help Food and Health Industries Stay Ahead of Regulation

healthTestedTRL 5Thin data (2/5)

Imagine governments across Europe are about to crack down on junk food marketing to teenagers — and you have no idea what rules are coming. CO-CREATE brought together researchers, young people, and policymakers in 9 countries to figure out which obesity-prevention policies actually work and how to get them adopted. They built a kind of simulation engine that maps how diet, physical activity, marketing, and policy all connect, then tested real dialogue forums where teens co-designed policy proposals with decision-makers. Think of it as a policy stress-test lab for childhood obesity — tested across 5 countries over 5 years.

By the numbers

consortium partners across the project

countries represented in the consortium

case countries with local implementation and evaluation plans

1-3

co-created policy interventions selected per case country

total deliverables produced by the project

universities in the consortium

The business problem

What needed solving

Food companies, health consultancies, and wellness platforms are blindsided by rapidly shifting obesity regulations across Europe — each country moves at its own pace, targeting different products, age groups, and marketing channels. Without a reliable way to benchmark current policy landscapes and anticipate what comes next, businesses either over-invest in compliance or get caught unprepared when new rules drop.

The solution

What was built

CO-CREATE produced a system dynamics model mapping obesity-related factors, a policy benchmarking index with criteria to assess any country's regulatory position on healthy diets and physical activity, a tested dialogue forum prototype for youth-policy co-creation (piloted in Norway and scaled), a pre-tested questionnaire measuring attitudes toward obesity policy measures, implementation and evaluation plans in local languages for 5 countries, and protocols for recruiting and engaging diverse youth populations across different countries. In total, 65 deliverables were produced.

Audience

Who needs this

Food & beverage companies preparing for stricter youth-targeted marketing regulationsPublic health consultancies advising governments on obesity prevention policyDigital health platforms building evidence-based youth wellness productsMunicipal and regional governments designing local obesity-prevention programmesIndustry associations needing to benchmark regulatory landscapes across European markets

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Food & Beverage

enterprise

Target: Food manufacturers or retailers facing tightening obesity-related regulations

If you are a food company dealing with incoming restrictions on youth-targeted marketing, labelling, or product reformulation — this project developed a policy benchmarking index tested across 5 countries that shows exactly which regulations are gaining traction and where. Their system dynamics model maps how policy changes ripple through dietary behaviour, letting you anticipate regulatory shifts rather than react to them. The dialogue forum methodology also gives you a structured way to engage youth audiences authentically, not just as a PR exercise.

Public Health Consulting

any

Target: Consultancies advising governments or municipalities on health policy design

If you are a consulting firm helping local or national governments design effective obesity-prevention programmes — CO-CREATE produced tested protocols for youth recruitment and engagement across diverse populations in 5 countries, plus a physical activity policy monitoring tool and a country-level policy index. These are ready-made assessment instruments backed by a 14-partner international consortium. The evaluation plans developed in local languages across the case countries provide templates you can adapt for new policy implementation assignments.

Health & Wellness Technology

SME

Target: Digital health platforms or apps focused on youth wellness and behaviour change

If you are a health-tech company building products for adolescent wellness — this project mapped the entire system of factors driving teenage obesity across 9 countries, producing a system dynamics model that quantifies how interventions interact. Their questionnaire measuring youth attitudes and readiness for action toward obesity policies has been pre-tested across multiple countries. These validated instruments and behavioural maps can inform your product design and help you demonstrate evidence-based impact to institutional buyers.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to license or use these tools?

CO-CREATE was a publicly funded research project (Horizon 2020 RIA), so the core outputs — policy indices, questionnaires, system dynamics models, and dialogue forum protocols — are likely accessible through open-access publications. Specific licensing terms would need to be discussed with the coordinator, FOLKEHELSEINSTITUTTET (Norwegian Institute of Public Health). Implementation and customisation costs would depend on scope.

Can these tools work at industrial or national scale?

The project explicitly developed and tested principles for scaling the dialogue forum model across a broad range of European countries. Implementation and evaluation plans were created in local languages for 5 case countries, with 1-3 policy interventions selected per country. The policy benchmarking index was designed to assess any country's policy status on healthy diets and physical activity.

Who owns the intellectual property?

As a Horizon 2020 RIA project coordinated by a public health institute, IP typically stays with the consortium partners who generated it. The project consortium includes 8 universities and 2 research organisations. Contact the coordinator at FOLKEHELSEINSTITUTTET to clarify access and licensing for specific tools like the system dynamics model or policy index.

How does this help with upcoming EU food regulations?

CO-CREATE built a criteria set for benchmarking obesity-related policies and a policy index that assesses a country's overall regulatory position on healthy diets and physical activity. This gives companies and governments a structured way to compare where they stand relative to other European countries and anticipate which policy measures are gaining momentum across the 9 countries studied.

How long did development and testing take?

The project ran from May 2018 to October 2023 — over 5 years of development, testing, and refinement. The dialogue forum prototype was first developed and tested in Norway, then refined with scaling principles defined for broader European deployment. The full project produced 65 deliverables across its workpackages.

Can these tools integrate with our existing health monitoring systems?

The system dynamics model was built as a knowledge repository drawing on existing public health models and previous systems approaches to childhood obesity. The physical activity policy monitoring tool and policy benchmarking index are designed as standalone assessment instruments. Integration with existing platforms would require technical discussion with the consortium partners who built the specific tool.

Is there ongoing support or a community around these tools?

The project involved 14 partners across 9 countries including organisations in Australia, South Africa, and the US, creating a broad international network. The project website co-create.eu may provide access to outputs and contacts. For ongoing support, the coordinator FOLKEHELSEINSTITUTTET and the consortium's 8 university partners would be the primary points of contact.

Consortium

Who built it

CO-CREATE is a research-heavy consortium with 14 partners across 9 countries, dominated by 8 universities and 2 research organisations, with only 1 industry partner (7% industry ratio) and zero SMEs. This signals strong academic credibility but limited commercial translation infrastructure. The geographic spread — spanning Europe, Australia, South Africa, and the US — gives the outputs broad policy relevance but also means the tools were designed for research and government use rather than private-sector deployment. A business looking to commercialise these outputs would likely need to partner with one of the academic institutions to access the tools and adapt them for market use. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health as coordinator adds government-sector authority.

FOLKEHELSEINSTITUTTETCoordinator · NO
UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWNparticipant · ZA
WORLD OBESITY FEDERATIONparticipant · UK
LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE AND TROPICAL MEDICINE ROYAL CHARTERparticipant · UK
DEAKIN UNIVERSITYparticipant · AU
UNIVERSITETET I OSLOparticipant · NO
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEMparticipant · US
UNIWERSYTET SWPSparticipant · PL
UNIVERSITETET I BERGENparticipant · NO
UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAMparticipant · NL

How to reach the team

FOLKEHELSEINSTITUTTET (Norwegian Institute of Public Health) — search for CO-CREATE project lead at FHI Norway

Order a report on this consortium See FOLKEHELSEINSTITUTTET profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to know which specific policy tools from CO-CREATE could give your company a regulatory edge? SciTransfer can connect you directly with the right consortium partner for your use case.

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