FAO Global AgriInno Challenge 2020 For Innovations In Agri-Food Sector

The Global AgriInno Challenge 2020 is open to applications from youths with digital innovations or ideas in agriculture. This is an initiative that is connecting youth-led innovation to the agri-food sector.

It is a challenge that gives you the chance to share information and enhance your knowledge of smart agriculture, innovation, and start-up practice. This will happen through a unique global network composed of United Nations’ mentors, leading angel investors, academic experts, and youth agripreneurs from the global agri-food sector.

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About The Global AgriInno Challenge 2020

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Zhejiang University, are the co-organisers of the Global AgriInno Challenge 2020. The aim is to harness innovation solutions in response to the challenges associated with ‘distribution and sales of agri-food products’.

Generally, selected teams will receive an invite to further develop and pitch their digital development solutions in Zhejiang Province, China on 27-28 November 2020 with all relevant expenses covered. Then, winning teams will receive a seed funding grant, and the opportunity to participate in a one-week agro-Bootcamp and world study tour.

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Background

The agricultural sector is going to face enormous challenges to feed the projected 9.6 billion people who will inhabit the planet by 2050, requiring a 60% increase in food. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in severe economic and social distress around the world, including negative impacts on agri-food systems. More so, logistic transportation and sale channels have been seriously hindered, while the demand for agricultural products has increased dramatically.

On the other hand, innovation, digital technology, and entrepreneurship have become even more important in accelerating and the transformation of agri-food systems, by increasing productivity and effectiveness. All these efforts contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). During this process, youth plays an important role and therefore it is essential to provide support with digital innovative solutions.

With the aim of identifying, accelerating, and scaling-up youth-led innovative business models; digital solutions to unlock the potentials of agri-food innovation; to address the challenges of distribution and sales of agri-food products, FAO, in partnership with Zhejiang University is organizing the 2020 Global AgriInno Challenge implementing the following actions;

a) Sharing the latest information, knowledge and best practices in agri-food innovation, technology and business models;

b) Building an enabling environment through Public-Private-Partnership and co-creation opportunities with diverse participants, practitioners, and experts;

c) Engaging and empowering the young agripreneurs and innovators to tackle development challenges through FAO and partners’ global network and continuous support during and after the innovation challenge.

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Global AgriInno Challenge 2020 Benefits

The selected teams to attend the final competition in China will benefit from:

1. 2-day professional development on around your team’s solution through an approach of co-creation with other young agripreneurs/innovators and experienced experts worldwide.
2. All expenses for attending the final competition in China will be covered, including; a) travel expenses: round-trip flight and/or train; local transportation fee (taxi/bus/subway); b) accommodation and meals; c) visa application fees as applicable for international participants.
3. The access to open data sets from FAO and other partners.
4. Advice from experienced experts from the UN, international organizations, the private sector, and academia. Also, the chance to have a dialogue with high-level representatives from leading companies and organizations.
5. The chance to meet top angel investors from venture capital funds and business leaders in the agri-food sector who may invest in your solutions.
6. The chance to build your global network in smart agriculture with a multitude of stakeholders.
7. Also, the top winning teams will receive seed funding (the amount will be communicated at a later stage).
8. And, the top winning teams will have the opportunity to join a one-week agro-Bootcamp and World Study Tour (training, travel, and accommodation covered) in 2021 to visit FAO and meet world-leading companies and organizations in the agri-food innovation sector.

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Global AgriInno Challenge 2020 Elibility Criteria

The Global AgriInno Challenge 2020 is open to all youth with digital innovations or ideas for the agri-food sector. English and Chineses are the two working languages during the Global AgriInno Challenge 2020. However, all the proposals and presentations will be conducted in English. 

The selection criteria for the final competition in China include;

1. The team has registered as a company or the project has been operational for 2-5 years.
2. The theme of the year is the distribution and sales of agri-food products.
3. The team needs to harness digital technology to solve a problem relating to agri-food product distribution and sales.
4. Teams with female agripreneurs are highly encouraged.
5. One leader of the group must be below 35 years old.
6. Each team should be composed of a minimum of 2 people, maximum of 5 people to participate on-site.
7. The feasibility and ability of technology to solve the problem of the distribution and sales of agri-food products must be clearly presented.
8. The possibility of replication or scaling-up the business model must be demonstrated.

Ideally, your team should be composed of the following skill set:

1. Human-centered design
2. Agri-food products distribution and sales
3. Agri-food business models development
4. Software programming/data engineering

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How To Apply

The team leader needs to fill the Application Form, with the Digital Development Solution (in PPT format) and a video, sending these to global_agriinno_challenge@zju.edu.cn and copying lu.jiang@fao.org.

The documentation to submit should include (in English):

• Application Form（you may scan the QR code on itme 8 or download through attachment to get the application form）
• Digital Development Solution (PowerPoint of max 12 slides, up to 250 words per slide, Microsoft YaHei Font，fontsize not less than 16)
  • Summary of the solution (up to 250 words)
  • Mission, vision, values of the project (the type of agriculture activity/sub-sector targeted)
  • Problem identification
  • Technical model
  • Timing justification (Why is this moment the best time?)
  • Business plan
  • Financial situation (capital raised, capital needed, revenue analysis)
  • Phased development planning
• 1-2 minutes long video explaining;
  • Why should your team be selected? Answer this question in a 1-2 minutes long video. Upload the video online to a video sharing platform (YouTube, Google Cloud, Youku, Baidu Cloud, or other) and share the address of the link.

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The deadline for application for the Global AgriInno Challenge 2020 is October 17, 2020 (24:00 CEST). Are you interested? Read more and download the application form for your team here; http://www.fao.org/e-agriculture/open-call-global-agriinno-challenge-2020

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