Digitalization at the Science and Innovation Forum 2022: Digital for Impact, FAO Way Forward

Harnessing digital technologies towards the SDGs

Digital technologies are proving to be one of the key accelerators of sustainable development and are having a deep transformational effect on our economies and societies, including agriculture and food systems in general. In times of economic turndowns, they definitely hold the potential to unlock employment opportunities, bridge the rural divide and empower youth and women to access information, technology and markets, among many other opportunities that they trigger worldwide. 

As their critical role has now been clearly recognized, FAO Division of Digitalization and Informatics (CSI) is organizing for the first time two large scale events to showcase Digital capabilities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and FAO's Four Betters, during one of FAO flagship events of the year, the Science and Innovation Forum 2022.

Held from 17-21 October, the FAO Science and Innovation Forum 2022 (SIF) will focus on highlighting the centrality of science, technology and innovation for agrifood systems transformation. The week before, several side events will also be organized, setting the stage for the main topics to be discussed and fostering more partnerships to come.

‘FAO has a key role to play in promoting the use and adoption of digital technologies to facilitate the transformation of agrifood systems’ says Dejan Jakovljevic, CIO and Director of the Division of Digitalization and Informatics (CSI).

'Our Organization's efforts are also focused in advising on and promoting a policy agenda and policy investments to address the digital divide and “massify” digital benefits, while making sure to leave no one behind, as per our common UN mandate', he adds, as ‘much work has still to be done to reach the objectives of the implementation of the Agenda 2030 and we must continue promoting rural transformation on the ground to achieve sustainable results for everyone'.

Identified in FAO Strategy Framework 2021-2023 to transform agrifood systems, Technology, Innovation and Data are applied as cross-cutting accelerators across all of FAO’s programmatic interventions to accelerate impact on the Four Betters and all FAO Programme Priority Areas. In this context, FAO has launched the new Digital for Impact stream, which focus area is specifically at the forefront of developing new digital capabilities and partnerships towards accelerating the four betters.

The impact of data and technology in the field: FAO AgroInformatics SIF side event

Towards this, FAO will continue to deepen the integration of cutting-edge information technology and employ agroinformatics as an instrument to promote the production and delivery of digital public goods including actionable data and information, and fit-for-purpose agro-informatics tools to meet different levels of application demands in the domain of food and agriculture.

This is the focus of the Digitalization and Informatics Division's first side event, to be held virtually on Friday 14th October, 15:00-17:00 CEST on ‘AgroInformatics: Actionable data for farmers and policy makers’. 

‘The aim of this event is precisely to present the applications and impact of digital tools in the field and how data and technology provide tools to enable policy makers, extension workers, and farmers with digital solutions to real-world challenges’ explains Zhongxin Chen, Senior Information Technology Officer and Lead of FAO AgroInformatics. ‘Enhanced data and indicators in support of evidence-based decision making are key FAO public goods, whose dissemination needs to increasingly rely on digital technology’  he highlights.  

Experts from diverse fields and backgrounds, including FAO divisional partners, the Organization's regional and field offices, the International Society on Agromatics, the EU Commission Joint Research Center of Ispra will provide on-the-ground examples of collaboration and how more accurate, integrated multidimensional data is contributing to accelerating FAO’s strategic objectives towards improved sustainable agriculture and early warning systems. 

‘We must leverage the capabilities of data, AI and digital public goods as accelerators and in support to the agricultural digital transformation’ adds Karl Morteo, Information Technology Officer and manager of the Hand-in-Hand Geospatial platform, one of FAO flagship digital public goods that will be presented at the event and that support the Hand in Hand initiative as the technical enabling tool providing advanced information, including food security indicators and agricultural statistics, for more targeted agriculture interventions.

Digitalization of Agrifood systems at the main stage

The second event to be held at SIF during its flagship week, on 21st October, 11:00-12:45 pm CEST, will focus on 'Digitalization of Agrifood Systems’. It will benefit from the high-level participation of FAO Chief Economist Máximo Torero, FAO Representatives from Africa and Latin America, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and high management representatives from the Ugandan Development Bank (UDB) and the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) from Ethiopia.

‘Digital capabilities have tremendous potential towards needed transformation to meet the growing demand for safe and nutritious food; better management of natural resources; enhanced productivity; while ensuring inclusion; and overall contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals’ says CSI Director Dejan Jakovljevic, main organizer of the events.

‘Following its Digital Agriculture programme Priority Area, FAO has already introduced several programs and initiatives to translate this vision into concrete digital capabilities support and delivery for all its Members and we are committed to better progress along this path, as to bring the benefits of digital innovation closer to the people ‘, he stresses.

Aiming at also bringing in the Youth perspective, and to highlight the importance of collaboration between the current and next generation and their combined ingenuity in science, technology and innovation, both events will benefit from the special participation of two of the finalist teams of the Transformative Research Challenge from the Innovation Lab of the World Food Forum (from Cornell University and the Ghana Food Research Institute), that aim to inspire research and innovation in sustainable development to end hunger and transform our agrifood systems. 

Register here:

Digitalization of Agrifood Systems

• 21 October, 11:00-12:45pm CEST
• Hybrid event| Rome, Plenary|
• Virtual Airmeet WFF Registration: https://bit.ly/3den0Lh      

AgroInformatics: Actionable data for farmers and policy makers

• 14 October, 15:00-17:00pm CEST
• Virtual Event Zoom Webinar Registration: https://bit.ly/3eShOwZ   

For more information, contact [email protected]