Call for Applications: The 2026 FAO Award for Innovation (cash prize of USD 10 000)

Ednah Carrick 3 weeks ago

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Closing Date: 15 February 2026

Call for Applications: The 2026 FAO Award for Innovation (cash prize of USD 10 000)

Apply now for the 2026 Innovation Award

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.

FAO Award for Innovation

Innovation is changing the way food is produced, processed, traded and consumed and building more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems.

The FAO Innovation Award recognizes ground-breaking innovations in areas under FAO’s mandate to Members or non-state partners, including institutions, individuals, international/regional organizations, academic or research entities, civil society groups, private sector entities and FAO employees.

Nature of the Award

a scroll describing the recipient’s achievements and/or award,
a cash prize of USD 10 000

The FAO Innovation Award 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

Selection Process

Proposals for nominations presented by national, regional or global institutions should be submitted to FAO Representatives (in countries with an accredited FAO Representative) or to FAO Regional and Subregional Representatives (in countries with no accredited FAO Representative), as appropriate, for submission to the Awards Secretariat.

The Award is conferred for activities and programmes with remarkable achievements during the biennium preceding the current one. The Award will be presented by the Director-General to the individual or representative of the recipient institution during a special ceremony at the 181st session of the FAO Council on 30 November-6 December 2026.

Procedures and General Guidelines

The procedures and general guidelines to be followed are set out below:

Submission of Nominations
Proposals for nominations presented by national, regional or global institutions should be submitted to FAO Representatives (in countries with an accredited FAO Representative) or to FAO Regional and Subregional Representatives (in countries with no accredited FAO Representative), as appropriate, for onward submission to the Awards Secretariat by deadline.
If the nomination form is submitted by an individual or institution it must be accompanied by an endorsement or letter of support from an FAO Representative at the country or subregional level, or from a Director (by email or signed letter). Applications lacking such endorsement will not be considered valid. All endorsements and letters of support will be subject to verification