PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP
Date: Tuesday 11 February 2025
Location: Hotel Grand Chancellor, Brisbane
Capacity for the workshop is limited - please register early to secure your place
Once Workshops are sold out we will put a waiting list in place
Date: Tuesday 11 February 2025
Location: Hotel Grand Chancellor, Brisbane
Capacity for the workshop is limited - please register early to secure your place
Once Workshops are sold out we will put a waiting list in place
Workshop 1 (FOOD Systems): Improving research partnerships between the public and private sectors to enhance food system transformation
Convenors: David Shearer, Australian National University, Risti Permani, University of Queensland and Craig Johns, University of Adelaide
Time: 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Overview: The key objective of the workshop is to build a framework to improve the partnership between research and innovation investors and providers contributing to the food system transformation. A case study approach will be used to investigate current public and private research partnerships to explore factors that influence success and failure. The case studies will be across the value chain, from pre-farm gate, on-farm innovation, through chain management and market engagement. This insight to critical factors will be used to develop a framework to improve future investment partnerships.
Research and development (R&D) has underpinned improvements in agricultural productivity contributing to improvements in global food security. However, there are also downsides with the costs of the global food system estimated at USD19.8 trillion, almost double current global food consumption, valued at USD9 trillion (Hendriks et al, 2021). Addressing these externalities is key to the transformation of the food system. Investment, by both the public and private sector, will be critical in the transformation, but estimates vary. CPI (2023) highlighted three scenarios (FOLU, 2019, UNEDP, 2022 and Thornton et al, 2023) which ranged from USD212B to USD1.3T. The study also identified current level of investment is well below need.
The role of the private sector in the global food system has changed dramatically (Denning, 2023). Today, investment by the private sector in agricultural R&D is greater than that by the public sector in developed economies (Pardey, 2023: Chancellor, 2023). Although there is some evidence that the investment is increasingly oriented towards developing country markets there is little evidence of direct private investment in agricultural R&D in developing countries (Fugile, 2016). In this changing dynamic, the private sector is becoming more crucial as a research and innovation provider and as a key mechanism to sustainably scale innovation. There are many examples, and various approaches, of public investment trying to partner with the private sector to deliver impact, however there does not seem to be a clear approach or framework to maximise the impact of the investment from both the public and private sectors.
Improved partnership between public and private research investors and providers may improve the capacity to address ongoing development challenges, such as food security, address newly important issues including health and nutrition, and also contribute to addressing the impacts of climate change in the agricultural sector, where climate change has reduced productivity growth by 21% since the 1960s (Ortiz-Bobea et al, 2021).
Practitioners working in research and innovation partnerships that engage with both the public and private sector that are seeking ways to improve, and want to contribute to, the co-design, co-production, collective implementation, and impact of their research in the transformation of the global food systems, with a particular focus on developing country food systems. Key learning outcomes will be an improved understanding of current public and private arrangements to fund and implement research focused on food systems transformation along with approach to improve partnerships and impact.
Format: Presentation of case studies, capturing key learnings and formulating this into a potential framework to guide future investment. Speakers would be invited to contribute (and also contribute to a subsequent special issue journal) to both present and discuss, as below, with audience participation open. The main output of this event would be the establishment of a plan to build the framework as described in the objectives as well as commit key authors for the development of the papers (as described below)
Key Topics • Historical overview of public and private sectors have interacted in research and innovation in the global agri-food system – perhaps a focus on food security • The current state of play – globally, a developed country case and a developing country case • What can we learn from the renewables sector • On-farm • In the value chain • What about at the broader food system level • It’s not just about technology – finance and policy innovation is critical • What about building capacity to form effective partnerships • Co-design and co-production with the private sector – approaches, costs and benefits • What does this mean for future challenges – partnerships to lower GHG emissions from global agri-food systems • A framework to enhance partnerships to meet the challenges of transition to a sustainable future
Time: 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Overview: The key objective of the workshop is to build a framework to improve the partnership between research and innovation investors and providers contributing to the food system transformation. A case study approach will be used to investigate current public and private research partnerships to explore factors that influence success and failure. The case studies will be across the value chain, from pre-farm gate, on-farm innovation, through chain management and market engagement. This insight to critical factors will be used to develop a framework to improve future investment partnerships.
Research and development (R&D) has underpinned improvements in agricultural productivity contributing to improvements in global food security. However, there are also downsides with the costs of the global food system estimated at USD19.8 trillion, almost double current global food consumption, valued at USD9 trillion (Hendriks et al, 2021). Addressing these externalities is key to the transformation of the food system. Investment, by both the public and private sector, will be critical in the transformation, but estimates vary. CPI (2023) highlighted three scenarios (FOLU, 2019, UNEDP, 2022 and Thornton et al, 2023) which ranged from USD212B to USD1.3T. The study also identified current level of investment is well below need.
The role of the private sector in the global food system has changed dramatically (Denning, 2023). Today, investment by the private sector in agricultural R&D is greater than that by the public sector in developed economies (Pardey, 2023: Chancellor, 2023). Although there is some evidence that the investment is increasingly oriented towards developing country markets there is little evidence of direct private investment in agricultural R&D in developing countries (Fugile, 2016). In this changing dynamic, the private sector is becoming more crucial as a research and innovation provider and as a key mechanism to sustainably scale innovation. There are many examples, and various approaches, of public investment trying to partner with the private sector to deliver impact, however there does not seem to be a clear approach or framework to maximise the impact of the investment from both the public and private sectors.
Improved partnership between public and private research investors and providers may improve the capacity to address ongoing development challenges, such as food security, address newly important issues including health and nutrition, and also contribute to addressing the impacts of climate change in the agricultural sector, where climate change has reduced productivity growth by 21% since the 1960s (Ortiz-Bobea et al, 2021).
Practitioners working in research and innovation partnerships that engage with both the public and private sector that are seeking ways to improve, and want to contribute to, the co-design, co-production, collective implementation, and impact of their research in the transformation of the global food systems, with a particular focus on developing country food systems. Key learning outcomes will be an improved understanding of current public and private arrangements to fund and implement research focused on food systems transformation along with approach to improve partnerships and impact.
Format: Presentation of case studies, capturing key learnings and formulating this into a potential framework to guide future investment. Speakers would be invited to contribute (and also contribute to a subsequent special issue journal) to both present and discuss, as below, with audience participation open. The main output of this event would be the establishment of a plan to build the framework as described in the objectives as well as commit key authors for the development of the papers (as described below)
Key Topics • Historical overview of public and private sectors have interacted in research and innovation in the global agri-food system – perhaps a focus on food security • The current state of play – globally, a developed country case and a developing country case • What can we learn from the renewables sector • On-farm • In the value chain • What about at the broader food system level • It’s not just about technology – finance and policy innovation is critical • What about building capacity to form effective partnerships • Co-design and co-production with the private sector – approaches, costs and benefits • What does this mean for future challenges – partnerships to lower GHG emissions from global agri-food systems • A framework to enhance partnerships to meet the challenges of transition to a sustainable future
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