FAO Science and Innovation Forum Sets Five-Day Agrifood Technology Agenda in Rome

The Food and Agriculture Organization will hold the fifth Science and Innovation Forum from October 12 to 16, 2026, at FAO headquarters in Rome and online. The five-day hybrid programme sits inside the World Food Forum and gives researchers, policymakers, producers, technology developers and investors a dedicated venue to examine which innovations can move from promising trials into practical agrifood use.

FAO is organizing the 2026 edition under the World Food Forum and World Food Day theme “Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow.” The Science and Innovation Forum runs alongside the Global Youth Forum and the Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum. Those are separate tracks: the science forum concentrates on evidence, technology and adoption, while the investment forum gives governments a place to present country investment plans.

For companies, the forum’s value is not simply a sequence of speeches. It brings the scientific and policy sides of agrifood development into the same programme, creating an opportunity to compare research results with adoption barriers such as cost, infrastructure, regulation, access to data and the ability of small producers to use new tools.

The event is also positioned as a global platform for structured dialogue, knowledge exchange and collaboration. That framing puts implementation at the centre of the agenda. Innovations in crop and livestock production, water management, digital agriculture, food processing and supply chains only have commercial significance when they can be adapted to specific regions and operating conditions.

The wider World Food Forum runs from October 8 to 16, combining youth, science and innovation, and investment at FAO headquarters. The From Seeds to Foods public exhibition at Circo Massimo begins earlier, while the Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum runs from October 13 to 16. The Science and Innovation Forum therefore connects a distinct technical programme with the broader week of public, policy and financing activity.

The dates also overlap with the Rome Water Dialogue, which will examine integrated management of water, land and soil for food and water security. That creates a practical connection between technology discussions and one of agriculture’s hardest operating constraints: improving productivity while managing water scarcity, soil degradation and competing demand.

Participants should treat the event as a scouting and partnership forum rather than a product fair. The most useful outcomes are likely to come from identifying validated technologies, research partners, regulatory questions and deployment models that can be tested after Rome. Announcements made on stage will still need to be assessed against field evidence, cost and scalability.

The Science and Innovation Forum is scheduled as a hybrid event from October 12 through October 16. For agrifood businesses, research organizations and public agencies, its strongest commercial role is as a meeting point between scientific evidence and the people responsible for adoption, financing and implementation.