FAO at Slush 2025: Advancing Farmer-Centric Data Innovation through Y Science
22/12/2025
From 19–20 November 2025, FAO took part in Y Science 2025, the official food and life sciences side event of Slush, reinforcing its commitment to scaling innovation that delivers tangible value for farmers and supports the transformation of global agrifood systems.
Held in Helsinki, Y Science brought together researchers, startups, investors, and international organizations to explore how science, innovation, and entrepreneurship can accelerate sustainable food systems.
Food Systems Session
FAO contributed to the Food Systems Session, where Vincent Martin, Director of FAO’s Office of Innovation, delivered the keynote: “Innovating for Impact: Bridging Science, Startups, and Global Food Security.”
Food Systems Pitching Competition
Together with the Viikki Food Design Factory (VFDF) of the University of Helsinki, FAO co-organized the Food Systems Pitching Competition, showcasing the finalists of the Seed to Scale: Data for Farm Value Global Challenge, launched earlier in 2025 at FAO’s Science and Innovation Forum (SIF) in Rome.
The four finalists presented solutions focused on improving access to data, decision-making tools, and value creation across diverse farming contexts.
Finalists and winner:
- Lorena Vargas Arias – Suma Col Ltda (Winner)
- Pedro Viera – Hola Tractor
- Giovanni Dal Mas – ZERTIFIER
- Anita Licata – VAIMEE
Vincent Martin, Director of FAO’s Office of Innovation, emphasized:
“Thanks to this collaboration with VFDF, we managed to identify four incredible entrepreneurs at Slush, an event I was looking forward to all year. And now, as a result, we are launching the Data Refinery, an initiative with VFDF to finally identify, deploy and scale business models around data that will remunerate data generators that are forgotten, like farmers and farms.”
Laura Forsman, Manager at Viikki Food Design Factory, added:
“As University of Helsinki’s food systems innovation arm, Viikki Food Design Factory is thrilled to have embarked on this collaboration journey with FAO’s Office of Innovation'' as they ''do not only share the objective of tackling the systemic issues in the unsustainable food system, but also the values of interdisciplinarity, multi-actor engagement and value creation, and the entrepreneurial attitude.”
Strengthening innovation ecosystems
FAO’s participation at Y Science and Slush underscores its broader strategy to strengthen innovation ecosystems that place farmers at the centre of digital transformation. By connecting farmer-focused startups with global stages, research institutions, and innovation partners, FAO continues to promote approaches that combine technology with inclusive governance, trust, and equitable value-sharing.
The engagement at Slush marked a key step in advancing Seed to Scale: Data for Farm Value from concept to scale—demonstrating how farmer-centric data innovation can contribute to more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable agrifood systems.