Policies and capacities for innovation: why, what and how? 

• Inclusive and evidence-based policies are essential to transform agrifood systems, co-designed to fit specific contexts and aligned with societal missions such as climate resilience, biodiversity, and food security. 
• Integrated policy and investment frameworks must align policy instruments, funding, and governance mechanisms to ensure innovation in areas like climate, agroecology, urban agriculture, and biotechnology is transformative and sustainable.
• Strengthening innovation capacities—technical, functional, and institutional—at individual, organizational, and system levels enables agile, inclusive, and future-proof innovation ecosystems.
• Inclusive and intergenerational approaches ensure women, youth, and the elderly contribute to and benefit from innovation, fostering equity, intercultural exchange, and socially embedded solutions.
• Foresight for anticipatory governance shifts policymaking from reactive to proactive, helping to de-risk decisions, test solutions, and prepare for multiple futures. Innovation Policy Labs (IPLs) advance this by embedding foresight and UN 2.0 capabilities into national strategies and processes.
• Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) at system level creates feedback loops that guide innovation, ensure timely action, and scale transformative impact.