Deadline: 31ST December 2026.
At its Forty-second session, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Conference decided to establish a “FAO Award for Innovation” to recognise ground-breaking innovation in areas under FAO’s mandate, open to a broad spectrum of awardees including Members and 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, 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
- 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 recognise, but not be limited to, all types of innovations in agrifood systems, technological (including digital and biotechnological innovations) as well as social, financial, policy, and institutional innovations.
- It will also cover sustainable production practices such as agroecology, new approaches, new business models, etc. The innovations may fall under various categories including technological, institutional, social, policy, and financial innovations.
Basic Criteria
The winning institution/organization demonstrates that they successfully contributed to an area of work related to FAO’s mandate, meeting one or all of the following criteria:
Award specific criteria:
- Have an impact on more than one level of the supply chain from farmers to consumers.
- Strengthen the link between farmers and consumers, e.g., through tracking sustainability features of traded food and agriculture products on labels, innovative institutional mechanisms etc.
General criteria:
- Quality and merit of the innovation
- Potential benefit, impact and sustainability
- Scalability
- Value for money
- Role of youth (under 35), and/or women, and/or marginalized groups
For more information and application.