Build interactive visualization information systems for decision-support by growers, distributors, and food system stakeholders (e.g. labour). Decision Intelligence begins by building causal models from scientific data (e.g. climate, microbiota, plant health, nutrients, water etc.), and expert knowledge held by growers and other stakeholders. These are instrumented with sensors and computational models including machine learning models in an interactive application to support human decision making.

SFU's academic programs emphasize an interdisciplinary approach to traditional and newer disciplines. SFU has approximately 25 000 full-time and part-time students.

The World University Rankings for Innovation (WURI) 2023 ranks SFU as:

#1 Canadian university for entrepreneurial spirit (ranked 2nd worldwide)
#1 innovative university in Canada, and the only Canadian university to rank in the top 100 worldwide
#1 Canadian university for industrial application.

The 2023 Times Higher Education's Impact Rankings—which measure universities’ strengths in advancing the United Nations’ sustainable development goals—rank SFU as the world's top university for global impact on sustainable cities and communities, and 5th in the world for climate action.

SFU is home to the B.C. Centre for Agritech Innovation. The B.C. Centre for Agritech Innovation powers British Columbia's agritech businesses to grow the economy and feed the world by accelerating research and development of new food production and processing technologies.