Science and Innovation Forum Opening
Accelerating science and innovation for food security impacts
The 2026 Science and Innovation Forum will open with a high-level Plenary focused on how to better harness science and innovation for improved impacts on agrifood systems transformation and food security. Under the theme “Innovate Today, Nourish Tomorrow”, the world-leading SIF2026 Plenary speakers will provoke thinking and dialogue on how the science and innovation community and its stakeholders can work more efficiently together to accelerate progress on food security and sustainable development. The Plenary will highlight the importance of robust data, evidence, knowledge, technologies, tools and approaches to inform better decision-making across planning, policies, investments and actions within agrifood systems for food security impacts. With a forward look to the frontier, the Plenary will highlight the power of new and emerging knowledge, technologies and tools, while reflecting on the reality that millions of people do not have access to the most basic of life-changing technologies that science and innovation have generated. The SIF2026 Plenary invites participants from across all career stages, and from across all stakeholder groups with interests or engagement in science and innovation for development, to join in a collective effort to build a stronger global community for action that both people and planet now urgently need.
Interpretation available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
This session convenes a group of world leading authorities to focus on this topic from multiple perspectives, including:
QU Dongyu
Director-General, FAO
Prof. Charles Spillane
Chief Scientist, FAO
H.E. Ibrokhim Abdurakhmonov
Minister of Agriculture, Republic of Uzbekistan
H. E. Armando Rodríguez Batista
Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment
Havana, The Republic of Cuba
HRH Princess Basma bint Ali
FAO Regional Goodwill Ambassador for the Near East and North Africa
Mr Alexander Alimov
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Russian Federation
Prof. Paolo Benanti, TOR
Professor of Moral Theology and Ethics of Technology
Advisor to the Vatican on Artificial Intelligence and Digital Ethics
Pontifical Gregorian University
Rome, Italy
Ana Maria Bertolini
WFF Young Scientist Group and University of São Paulo (USP)
Ms Wafa Ben-Hassine
Chief, Digital Technology and Human Rights Section
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Prof. Robbert Dijkgraaf
President-elect
International Science Council (ISC)
Amsterdam, Netherlands
H.E. Mutahi Kagwe
Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Kenya
Dr Segenet Kelemu
Executive Director
Pan-African Programs
Mastercard Foundation
Nairobi, Kenya
Dr Mangi Lal Jat
Director General
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
New Delhi, India
Dr. Vincent Martin
Director, Office of Innovation, FAO
Mr Martien van Nieuwkoop
Director, Agricultural Development
Gates Foundation
Mr Achim Steiner
Senior Fellow
Oxford Martin School
University of Oxford
Oxford, United Kingdom
Prof. Ryutaro Tao
Vice President
Dean of the Faculty and Graduate School of Agriculture
Kyoto University, Japan
Dr Abdou Tenkouano
Director General and Chief Executive Officer
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe)
Nairobi, Kenya
Prof. Valmaine Toki
Chair and Pacific Member
United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) & Professor of Law
Te Piringa Faculty of Law, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Dr. Andrew Zolli
Co-founder
Chief Impact Officer
Planet Labs PBC
San Francisco, United States of America