Program

Scientific program

The complete scientific programme will be composed of

• Preconference workshops
• Keynote lectures
• Lecture sessions, incl. self organized sessions
• Poster sessions
• Panel discussions

The program leaflet contains the details of the scientific program of the conference.

The complete scientific program is also available in ConfTool.

Keynotes

We are proud to welcome two renowned researchers as keynote speakers to open our conference.

Innovative concepts for the transformation of agricultural systems
Frank Ewert, ZALF, Germany

Agriculture faces enormous challenges related to climate change, loss of biodiversity, degradation of natural resources and market volatilities, among others. Transformative change and innovation are urgently needed to meet the multiple goals for a sustainable development and resilience and effectively optimize trade-offs and synergies among these within and across levels of organization and scales. A comprehensive system perspective will be required considering agriculture and related innovations as part of the larger agri-food system transformation. Respective integrated approaches pose specific demands for transdisciplinary research and actors’ involvement in co-design processes. The living lab format is a promising concept in this regard. The paper, presents selected innovations and a living lab concept for agricultural landscapes to support transformation towards a sustainable and resilient agri-food systems. Illustrative examples refer to system diversification and agroecology as a comprehensive agri-food system approach. The new demand for research is highlighted and discussed. The presentation concludes with a set of recommendations for living labs and related research to better support agri-food systems transformation.

Corporate power and the struggle for sustainable food systems innovation
Jennifer Clapp, University of Waterloo, Canada 

There is a longstanding debate on whether large and concentrated firms are required to generate disruptive innovation in a sector. This presentation examines this debate in the context of corporate concentration in the agricultural inputs industry and outlines its implications for innovation in the agrifood sector. With recent developments in the sector, the presentation shows how large and dominant firms have focused their investment strategy and research and development spending largely on defensive innovation rather than developing their own breakthrough innovations. In these ways, the large and dominant firms can maintain and expand their commanding position in the market while also creating barriers to entry for other firms. These dynamics have important implications for environmental and social goals. The presentation points to potential policy directions to address these challenges.