FAO’s Office of Innovation and the Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA) jointly present
Enhancing knowledge sharing in support of agricultural innovation system:
“Date Palm Digital Research and Innovation Platform”
12 June 2023
14:00 – 15:30 (Jordan time)
13:00 – 14:30 (CEST, Rome time)
To register, please click here
Background
Multi-stakeholder innovation platforms are physical and virtual spaces for knowledge sharing, coordination and collaborative processes related to research, technology, and innovation. In the field of agriculture, such platforms are gaining an increasingly relevant role as powerful tools to deal with complex agricultural challenges and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
In 2022, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) supported establishing and developing a date palm research and innovation platform in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region. This was a collaborative work between FAO and Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA) whose mandate to contribute to the enhancement of agricultural and rural development in the NENA region through research and innovation. AARINENA has launched the Date Palm Innovation Platform (https://aarinena.org/palm/) in link to the AARINENA date palm network (https://aarinena.org/date-palm-network). The recently launched date palm platform acts as a hub for research, technology and innovations for the date palm integrated production system in NENA region.
The platform aims to provide an interactive space to coordinate the efforts of member states and multiple stakeholders, including researchers, producers, financiers, farmers’ associations, private industries, investors, and government agencies to enhance the integrated production system of the date palm in the NENA region, and to maintain high competitiveness in both regional and global markets.
Following the establishment and operationalization of the date palm digital innovation platform, AARINENA and FAO have recently developed a user-friendly mobile application for both Android and iOS to enhance the accessibility of the platform and to disseminate the knowledge and information through the platform widely. The mobile app also aims to ease the interaction and communication between stakeholders, especially date palm farmers and producers.
Purpose
This webinar aims to promote the recently established date palm research and innovation platform in NENA region and more specifically, the user-friendly mobile application (under the “Date Palm Application” in the mobile stores for both Android and iOS) that reflects the date palm innovation platform in its function, features, integration and modifications. The approaches used by this platform, in relation to its specific context and benefits, will be presented and discussed, including how to register, navigate, and actively and real-time interaction with others. During the webinar, there will be discussion on how the mobile app can contemplate the date palm innovation platform to ease the interaction and communication between date palm’s stakeholders.
Audience
The event targets development practitioners in the date palm industry, public and private research institutions, extension and education institutions, government officials, international organisations, producers’ organisations, cooperatives and civil society.
Zoom Webinar Registration
Link: https://fao.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cZMWk-dpSDioVadmnDY7bQ
Agenda
| *Time (min) | Topic | Speaker |
| 2:00 – 2:10 | Welcoming and opening remarks | · Vincent Martin, Director, Office of Innovation, FAO · Rida Shibli, Secretary General of AARINENA |
| 2:10 – 2:20 | Setting the seen: Innovation platforms as a powerful tool for knowledge sharing: “Role of Agricultural Innovation System in strengthening multi-actor innovation platforms” | · Selvaraju Ramasamy, Senior Agricultural Officer, Office of Innovation, FAO |
| 2:20-3:00 | Physical and governance structure model of the research, technology & innovation date palm platform | · Mohammad Malkawi, Software & IT Expert, Jordan · Mazen Sheikh, Software and IT Expert, Yemen |
| Demonstration of the platform operation and interactions | ||
| Demonstration of a user-friendly mobile app for both systems (Android & iOS) | ||
| 3:00 – 3:25 | Q&A | |
| 3:25 – 3:30 | Closing remarks | · Atef Swelam, Agricultural Officer, Office of Innovation, FAO · Rida Shibli, AARINENA |
Moderator: Atef Swelam, Agricultural Officer, Office of Innovation, FAO, Rome
We hope you join us at the webinar,
and please feel free to circulate this invite within your network!