Innovation at FAO
From Ideas to Impact
FAO strategically directs its innovation efforts toward areas with the highest potential for impact, fully aligned with the FAO Strategic Framework 2022–31, its Programme Priority Areas (PPAs) and Accelerators. Innovation is not pursued for its own sake, but as a driver to turn bold ideas into measurable results that contribute to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems. To achieve this, FAO has established dedicated mechanisms that nurture, validate and accelerate promising solutions. A few examples are listed below.
Incubating Innovation: ELEVATE
ELEVATE, FAO’s internal incubator, supports the early stages of the innovation journey. It assists teams in developing ideas into viable concepts, piloting them as projects through experiential learning, methodological guidance, and targeted technical support. Pilots become springboards for new expertise and innovation mindsets, translating theory into tangible practice. ELEVATE is structured as a four-step programme: selecting proposals through open calls to the Innovation Fund; developing concept notes; implementing 6–8 month pilots; and documenting lessons learned. Successful ELEVATE projects evolve by integrating into the official structures at FAO so their impact can produce far greater returns beyond their pilots. By providing a safe space for experimentation within the Organization, ELEVATE helps transform promising ideas into Minimum Viable Products, while capturing knowledge and preparing projects for possible acceleration and scaling.
Accelerating Solutions: The Acceleration Zone (AZ)
The Acceleration Zone (AZ) is both a physical and virtual space where problems can be dissected and innovations can be tested, refined and connected through FAO’s technical expertise in design thinking and methodology, policy processes and global network. More than a facilitation space, the AZ functions as a collaborative hub where governments, private sector actors, researchers, civil society and FAO teams can address critical challenges. It creates a safe, flexible and forward-looking environment to foster co-creation, stimulate systemic problem solving, and link innovations to FAO’s Programme Priority Areas through an Innovation Portfolio Approach. By aggregating complementary innovations around common goals, the AZ amplifies their collective impact and accelerates learning across contexts.
Connecting to the Ecosystem: The Venture Team
Supporting both ELEVATE and the Acceleration Zone is FAO’s Venture Team, which connects the Organization to the wider innovation ecosystem. By engaging startups, venture funds, impact investors and other partners, the Venture Team helps secure resources and build pathways for scaling promising solutions. This connection to external actors ensures that innovations incubated or accelerated within FAO are not isolated initiatives, but set on a path to be mainstreamed into a broader ecosystem that can sustain their impact.
From Innovation Pathways to Systemic Impact
Together, ELEVATE and the Acceleration Zone embody FAO’s approach of moving from ideas to impact. One nurtures and validates early-stage concepts; the other accelerates and aggregates solutions to achieve systemic transformation. Embedded in this process are principles of continuous learning, ethical foresight, rigorous measurement, and inclusive participation—ensuring that innovations deliver tangible benefits at scale.
Through these mechanisms, FAO strengthens its capacity to bridge global vision with local action, driving progress towards the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all.