Boosting agrifood research and innovation cooperation for impact at scale – Conference report

Please find the report of the conference “Boosting agrifood research and innovation cooperation for impact at scale” which took place in Brussels (11-13 March 2025) financed by the European Commission under the DeSIRA initiative.

To effectively contribute to desirable agrifood systems transformation in this time of poly-crisis, investments in R&I are more than ever required and need to be done in partnership. The R&I orientation for food systems transformation was discussed with a focus on innovative approaches such as agroecology, nature-based solutions, and nutrition-sensitive agriculture.

To achieve sustainable impact at scale, agrifood research and innovation (R&I) cooperation can be boosted through the following mechanisms:

• Co-ownership of design and implementation of R&I projects by multiple stakeholders (researchers, farmers, enterprises, and policy makers) with multi-actor approaches and through place-based innovation tools such as living labs.
• Institutional ownership to align economic, environmental, and social outcomes of R&I projects with local, national, and regional priorities.
• Viable and inclusive financial strategies to support experimentation, risk-taking, scaling of innovation and long-term commitments.
• Strengthening the capacities of the people and institutions that drive innovation processes.
• Investments in systems thinking, knowledge integration and long-term support to connect science, policy, and practice. Such investments will realize the potential of transformative approaches such as agroecology that address production, climate, biodiversity, and equity challenges in agrifood systems.

Reflections and recommendations for current and future R&I cooperation include:

• Strengthen the international dialogue on R&I cooperation;
• Provide coherent support to future R&I programming and interventions;
• Strengthen the coordination and governance of AU-EU R&I initiatives.
• Build innovative funding mechanisms to support innovation at scale.

DeSIRA-LIFT (June 2021 – May 2025) is the result of close collaboration between Agrinatura (European Alliance on Agricultural Knowledge for Development), the European Forum on Agricultural Research for Development (EFARD) and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA).