Sustainable open innovation for the agri-food system: sorghum as healthy food to deal with environmental challenges

The paper provides a new definition of healthy and functional food considering the case ofsorghum, which is dealing with environmental challenges, calling for exploration of eco-conscious consumers'behavior in the free-from food innovative mark. Through a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis, this article offers a deep and broad outlook on a sustainable open innovations approach for agri-food systems. Thebibliometric analysis includes a total of 198 scientific papers, deeply analyzed through Bibliometrix package.Results show increasing academic interest in sustainable innovations for the agri-food system,where the relevance of the food-grade sorghum is noticed. An open innovation approach is called for to dealwith environmental challenges. Theoretically, the research offers a new definition of healthy and functional food in line with current environmental challenges. It also provides a deep literature review on eco-conscious consumersand food-grade sorghum as functional food in the context of the free-from food market.