Projects
Our portfolio of projects translates policies and capacities for innovation into action across countries and regions. These initiatives strengthen Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS), foster inclusive governance, and test novel methodologies such as Innovation Policy Labs (IPLs), foresight, and AIS diagnostics.
Projects include:
- Innovation Policy Labs (IPLs) – global and country-level projects (Tunisia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Liberia, Colombia, Madagascar, Ethiopia) promoting innovative evidence-based and co-created policymaking and transformative operationalization.
- MAINSTREAM (EU-funded) – supporting innovations for sustainable and agroecological transitions of agrifood systems through policy coherence and integration, co-created and co-implemented decision-making, strengthening regional innovation ecosystems and their interdisciplinarity and capacity development.
- AgrINNO Futures 2050 – A serious foresight game for scaling agrifood innovation in LMICs –provide a collaborative platform to envision and strategize the scaling of agrifood innovations including through policy innovations specifically within LMIC contexts.
Innovation policy labs (IPL): co-creating future-proof policies
The IPL approach engages diverse stakeholders in innovative co-creation and co-implementation of policies and strategic decisions. By taking a holistic view of complex, new and systemic issues, it brings together policymakers, scientists, community representatives and other actors concerned.
IPLs use flexible system-thinking and collective intelligence methods applied to improve policy/decision-making and remove implementation barriers, such as innovation access and adoption, at national or sub-national level, or to co-create innovative solutions for broader programmes, value chains or community-level issues. Integrating into IPLs UN2.0 capabilities – foresight, behavoural science, data, innovation, digital and culture – makes the Innovation Policy Labs unique. Through its junior innovation policy labs and other mechanisms, the approach ensures that the co-created decisions work well for vulnerable communities, women and youth.
IPLs have already been applied by the FAO Office of Innovation to support innovative policy making in several countries (Tunisia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Liberia), more recently in projects in Colombia, Madagascar, Uzbekistan and Ethiopia, while in process of launching them in Zimbabwe, Kenya and Senegal.
IPLs achieve transformative outcomes faster, smoother and riskless manners as they are based on data and evidence, system-thinking, behavioral science, stakeholder agreements and are tested in practice and future-proof.
Orienting our agrifood innovation systems for sustainability
The EU-funded Mission-oriented agrifood innovation systems for sustainability transition through agroecology (MAINSTREAM) helps countries advance the sustainability transition of agrifood systems through agroecology. It strengthens mission-oriented agrifood innovation systems (MAIS) in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond, equipping them to scale inclusive, gender- and youth-responsive innovations linked to national agroecology strategies.
Through Innovation Policy Labs (IPLs), pilots and innovation roadmaps, MAINSTREAM engages governments, farmers, researchers and communities to co-create solutions and overcome barriers such as fragmented capacities, limited financing and outdated diffusion models.
At regional level, innovation scaling hubs connect partner organizations across countries, co-developing innovation portfolios, mentoring, training and matchmaking services. These hubs link local innovation niches with regional policies and finance, while promoting open and responsible social innovation.
MAINSTREAM builds on FAO’s experience from CDAIS and TAP-AIS, and is part of the EU-funded DeSIRA+ initiative, with global partners from research and innovation communities. Its ultimate goal is to unlock the scaling of community-driven innovations and foster resilient, inclusive and sustainable agrifood systems that contribute to the SDGs.