Food as the Regenerative Enabler: Naked Innovations at the World Meeting on Human Fraternity 2025

Last month in Rome and the Vatican, Naked Innovations was deeply honoured to take part in the World Meeting on Human Fraternity 2025 — a historic gathering of Nobel laureates, spiritual leaders, global policymakers, innovators, and bold thinkers committed to reimagining the future of humanity.

To stand alongside figures such as Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and President of the Fabbrica di San Pietro; Graça Machel Mandela, activist, politician, and co-founder of The Elders; and Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and fearless journalist, was both humbling and electrifying.

Over two days, across multiple venues — from the FAO headquarters to the Presidential Palace on Capitoline Hill, and finally St. Peter’s Square — the world came together to discuss how fraternity can become the guiding principle for the systems we must design: social, economic, ecological, and technological. Naked Innovations was proud to represent the role of food in this global dialogue.

Friday at FAO: Food Systems Transformation

The weekend began at the FAO headquarters in Rome with the opening day of the Summit. Our CEO, Ryan Edwards, was invited to join one of the 15 holistic roundtables held during the event — “Food Systems Transformation: Allied Intelligences — Fraternity, Food, Technology, and Regeneration for a New Social Pact” co-curated alongside Carmelo Troccoli and Alex Giordano.

The roundtable series embraced a systems-based, holistic approach, exploring the interconnections between key global priorities such as Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Climate, Health, and Food Systems Transformation — underscoring the need for cross-sector collaboration to build a new social pact for people and the planet.

This was not just a panel. It was a call to action.

Ryan spoke with clarity and urgency, representing the voice of business in agrifood:

• Businesses must be at the table. They are critical actors in transforming food systems and must step up as true partners in the change ahead — enabling innovators to scale and replicate impactful solutions locally and globally.

• Prosperity must be reimagined. Business models should ensure prosperity is shared, while keeping humans at the heart of every decision.
  
  
• Technology is not enough. Too often, businesses chase the latest innovations or AI breakthroughs and lose sight of the real purpose: creating better lives for people, whilst respecting nature. Technology can accelerate progress, but it cannot replace humanity. No algorithm can capture the complexity, creativity, and courage of the human spirit.

Food system transformation is not about scaling solutions in isolation. It is about addressing local challenges with a human-centred lens, ensuring food security, accessibility, affordability, health, and ecological balance. It is about connecting knowledge, enabling collaboration, and building regenerative systems that serve both people and planet.

This conversation was made richer by the profound voices of those who embody what we call living intelligences:

• Tainá Marajoara – cook, farmer, activist and indigenous leader from the heart of the Amazon, reminding us that the Earth is sacred and that knowledge without soul cannot transform lives.
  
  
• Sara Scherr – economist and founder of EcoAgriculture, showing how regenerative farming and visionary finance can heal ecosystems while restoring human dignity.
  
  
• Stefano Pisani – Mayor of Pollica, a daily example of authentic leadership: rooted in land and sea, uniting deep care with the courage of action.
  
  
• Sara Roversi – inspirational leader of Future Food Institute and friend of Naked Innovations, reminding us that being human means cultivating the art of presence, trust, empathy, reciprocity, embracing discomfort, celebrating imperfection, welcoming fragility as strength, and seeing limits as possibilities.

Saturday: At the Heart of Global Leadership

The following day, the Summit moved to the Palazzo dei Conservatori on Capitoline Hill, where the Assembly of Humanity brought together Nobel laureates, institutional leaders, and global thinkers in an extraordinary display of shared purpose.

Ryan, representing Naked Innovations, was selected as a food system expert to join the final dissemination session with other roundtable leads, chaired by Graça Machel Mandela. There, he highlighted the central role of food in connecting humanity and driving systemic change, and in building a future rooted in fraternity. Alongside leaders such as Cardinal Gambetti and Maria Ressa, the moment transcended sectors and silos, uniting voices from politics, spirituality, business, and civil society.

In the debates that followed, several critical issues were explored deeply:

• Artificial Intelligence — discussing its potential for both benefit and harm to humanity, and the urgent need for governance that ensures AI serves and improves the lives of all while making access inclusive. Ryan Edwards, as a Board member of BE-AI, is actively working toward this mission.
  
  
• Journalism — emphasizing the desperate need to support journalists in telling the truth, based on facts, and to protect their vital work in war zones and crises.
  
  
• Nuclear Disarmament — led by Carlos Umaña, highlighting the ongoing necessity of global safety and cooperation.
  
  
• Food’s role in society — reinforcing how food connects communities, regenerates soil, and must be managed to reduce its impact on our fragile climate.

The Assembly made one truth clear: fraternity is not an abstract ideal, but a practical framework for designing systems that put humans first.

Source: fraternitymeeting.org

The day culminated in an unforgettable evening at St. Peter’s Square, where the message of fraternity reached thousands through culture and art. The free concert Grace for the World brought together Andrea Bocelli, Jennifer Hudson, Pharrell Williams, John Legend, and Karol G, while 3,500 drones illuminated the Vatican sky above St. Peter’s Dome and joined by an incredible choir.

It was more than a concert. It was a demonstration of the power of culture, diversity and creative power to connect humanity — just as food does. 

Food as the Catalyst

Throughout the weekend, one conviction grew ever stronger:

Food is the ultimate connector and catalyst.

It is where human equality, ecological regeneration, and shared prosperity converge. It bridges local realities with global visions. It gives meaning to fraternity in the most tangible way — through nourishment, community, and care.

At Naked Innovations, we believe the future of food systems cannot be dictated by technology alone, nor designed behind closed doors. It must be co-created through human fraternity — with businesses, researchers, educators, governments, and communities uniting to transform ideas into real-world impact. All of this while thinking locally, yet connecting globally — enabling us to dive into key territorial challenges and scale real-life solutions both regionally and worldwide.

Because being human is not a slogan. It is a practice. A commitment. A daily act of presence, courage, and care.

Looking Ahead

The World Meeting on Human Fraternity 2025 reminded us of something profound:

• Fraternity is a force for transformation. It can and must guide the design of our future.
  
  
• Food is the bridge that grounds this vision. It connects the global with the local, the systemic with the human.
  
  
• Collaboration is non-negotiable. No single sector can drive this change alone.

"By embracing new perspectives and engaging with world experts, I am ever more convinced of the power of collaboration — of safely challenging each other to do better. At this tipping point in history, only through fraternity and collective action can we bring peace and prosperity to all." - Ryan Edwards, CEO and Co-Founder, Naked Innovations.

It was an honour to contribute to this global dialogue — to stand shoulder to shoulder with world leaders, Nobel laureates, and visionaries, and to show that food is not just a system to be fixed, but a force to unite humanity.

At Naked Innovations, we will continue to push for food systems that place humanity and ecology at the centre — bold, regenerative, and built for shared prosperity.