Agrifood Systems Technologies and Innovations Outlook (ATIO)

14 March 2025. Agrifood Systems Technologies and Innovations Outlook (ATIO)

• Seminar Series FAO's Office of Innovation 
• with guest speaker, Dr Philip Pardey.

What is ATIO?

Agrifood systems stakeholders across the globe face information gaps that limit their ability to make evidence-informed decisions on the development and use of science, technologies and innovations (STIs) for the sustainable transformation of agrifood systems. 

• The ATIO initiative, led by FAO's Office of Innovation, addresses this by providing access to relevant data, evidence and critical reflections on agrifood STIs through two main outlets: a biennial report offering a snapshot of current patterns and foresight, and an open-access knowledge base offering user-friendly data, information, and analysis for a wide range of stakeholders. 
• The ATIO Seminar Series features speakers engaged in the ATIO initiative, showcasing emerging topics from the forthcoming ATIO report, which will be launched in 2025. 
• The forthcoming ATIO report will be launched in October 2025 at the Science and Innovation Forum.

About the speaker:

Philip Pardey, Professor of Science and Technology Policy at the University of Minnesota, directs the GEMS Informatics Centre, which focuses on agrifood data-driven innovation. With over 430 publications, his research centres on agricultural R&D policies and sustainable productivity growth. He has received numerous honours, including the Siehl Prize for Excellence in Agriculture.

• Agrifood value chains: changing value chains influence practices and economic environments for producers, including their use of technologies.
• Innovation timelines: It takes time for agrifood innovations to progress from idea to impact.
• Research and development (R&D) investments: emerging trends in global public and private agrifood R&D spending.
• Implications for the Global South: challenges and opportunities in low- and middle-income countries.

Previous ATIO Seminars 

 In this video, Philip Pardey, Director of the InSTePP Center at the University of Minnesota, emphasizes the importance of FAO’s ATIO initiative in harnessing science and technology to boost economic development and improve livelihoods globally.

   

In this video, Prof. Laurens Klerkx of the University of Talca (Chile) and Wageningen University (the Netherlands) provides an overview and forward-looking perspectives on the evolution of Agrifood Innovation Systems (AIS) as a concept and operational tool, including the recent emergence of a new mission-oriented AIS approach in response to some of the current challenges, critiques and trends in the agrifood sector.