STI Forum Side Event - Youth-led Innovation: Ensuring good food for all, for today and tomorrow
Date: 8 May 2024
Time: 13:15 – 14:30 EDT
Venue: Conference Room 11 (CR11), UN Headquarters, New York, USA
Building on the success of the World Food Forum (WFF) in recent years, it has become a powerful global movement uniting diverse generations, sectors and cultures. The WFF fosters initiatives for a more sustainable, resilient, inclusive and hunger-free future. Aligned with the vision of empowering youth, fostering innovation, attracting investments, promoting inclusivity and utilizing science-backed evidence, the WFF is now gearing up for a series of impactful actions to accelerate its support for agrifood systems transformation.
With this in mind, the WFF will join the 9th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (STI Forum) by organizing its side event “Youth-led Innovation: Ensuring good food for all, for today and tomorrow” to highlight the importance of engaging global youth in science, technology and innovation, showcasing young scientists and innovators who are making a difference, and presenting opportunities for youth to play a central role in the transformation of our agrifood systems and the achievement of the SDGs.
Speakers will include senior leaders from the UN Youth Office and FAO, young innovators from the WFF’s Transformative Research Challenge (TRC), Startup Innovation Awards, powered by Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) and Youth Food Lab, as well as the WFF Young Scientists Group (YSG), in an intergenerational dialogue on the importance of investing in youth in STI.
The side event will be hybrid, hosted at the UN headquarters in New York.
Agenda:
| Introduction |
| Opening of STI WFF side event by moderators |
| Opening remarks by Carol Bellamy, Chair, Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) on the critical role that youth must play in leading innovation to achieve the SDGs |
| PART 1: Youth-led Innovation in Agrifood Systems |
| Introduction of WFF Transformative Research Challenge |
| Presentation of WFF Transformative Research Challenge experience by Nancy Nson Nswal, Winner from 2023 TRC |
| Introduction of the WFF Youth Food Lab programme |
| Presentation of WFF Youth Food Lab experience by Bibek Shrestha, Wetlands4Nepal |
| Introduction of the WFF Startup Innovation Awards by Nancy Yuan, Strategic Program Manager, Extreme Tech Challenge |
| Presentation of WFF Startup Innovation Awards by 2023 WFF Startup Innovator of the Year winner, Buffy Okeke-Ojiudu, CEO, Zebra CropBank |
| 2024 Startup Innovation Awards boost and presentation of WFF-UNIDO Startup Accelerator Program by Adnan Šerić, Head of Innovation Lab, UNIDO |
| Wrap up of panel and lead to next section by moderators |
| CULTURAL BREAK |
| Introduction of WFF Film Festival and the “Best Focus on Innovation” award |
| PART 2: Young Scientists in Agrifood Systems |
| Introduction to WFF Young Scientists Group 2023-2025 Cohort by moderators |
| Panel discussion: “The Role of Young Scientists in Transforming Agrifood Systems Amid Multiple Crises” with YSG members, an introduction of the WFF YSG Report 2024 |
| PART 3: Concluding Remarks and Call for Action |
| Reflections on the interventions and words of support from the Kingdom of the Netherlands by ECOSOC Ambassador Katja Lasseur |
| Reflections on the interventions and closing remarks highlighting the importance of empowering youth innovation in support of agrifood systems transformation by Vincent Martin, FAO Office of Innovation (OIN) Director |
Confirmed speakers:
- Katja Lasseur, Kingdom of the Netherlands ECOSOC Ambassador
- Vincent Martin, FAO OIN Director
- Carol Bellamy, Chair, Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF)
- Nancy Nson Nswal, Winner from 2023 TRC
- Nancy Yuan, Strategic Program Manager,Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC)
- Buffy Okeke-Ojiudu, CEO, Zebra CropBank
- Bibek Shrestha, Wetlands4Nepal
- Adnan SERIC, Head of Innovation Lab at UNIDO
- Tarini Gupta and Margaret Hegwood, World Food Forum Young Scientists Group 2023-2025 Cohort
