Nominations are open for the UN FAO Innovation Award 2024. On 18 June 2021, the FAO Conference, at its Forty-second session, decided to establish a “FAO Award for Innovation” to recognize ground-breaking innovation in areas under FAO’s mandate to a broad spectrum of awardees including Members or non-state partners.
Agricultural innovation is the process whereby individuals or organizations bring new or existing products, processes or ways of organization into use for the first time in a specific context in order to increase effectiveness, competitiveness, and resilience to shocks or environmental sustainability and thereby contribute to food security and nutrition, economic development or sustainable natural resource management.
Innovation consists of doing something new and different, whether solving an old problem in a new way, addressing a new problem with a proven solution, or bringing a new solution to a new problem.
Award
The successful applicant will receive:
a scroll describing the recipient’s achievements and/or award
a cash prize of USD $10,000.
Eligibility
The FAO Award for Innovation will be conferred for ground-breaking innovation in areas under FAO’s mandate to a broad spectrum of awardees, including Members, institutions, individuals, international/regional organizations, academic or research entities, civil society organizations private sector entities.
The Award will recognize but not be limited, for example, to innovations on agri-food systems, digital agriculture, agri-food innovation systems, advances in biotechnology, innovation in sustainable production practices such as Agroecology, new business models, etc.
The innovations could fall under different categories such as technological, institutional, social, policy and financial innovations.
Criteria
Award specific criteria:
Have an impact on more than one level of the supply chain from agricultural producers (e.g. farmers, herders, fishers) to consumers.
Strengthen the link between agricultural producers and consumers through innovative mechanisms (e.g innovative institutional arrangements, policy and financial mechanisms, social processes, innovative technological solutions including digital tools, platforms connecting producers and consumers, innovative ways of access to markets and consumers etc.,) with due consideration to environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainability.
General criteria:
Quality and merit of the innovation
Potential benefit, impact and sustainability
Accessibility and affordability of the innovation
Scalability
Value for money
Role of youth (under 35), and/or women, and/or marginalized groups
Nomination
The text of the detailed nomination should be self-contained and should provide concrete elements and information. The nomination can be submitted electronically at the form or sent via mail at [email protected]
