Within the context of the “Digital Excellence in Agriculture: ITU-FAO Regional Contest for Europe and Central Asia", the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Office for Europe and ITU Office for CIS, together with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, held the Digital Excellence in Agriculture Awards Ceremony on 23 September from 9:30 to 12:45 CEST online.
The Awards Ceremony took place within the framework of the ITU Regional Innovation Forum for Europe 2021.
The Awards Ceremony constituted the last phase of the ITU and FAO Regional Contest on "Digital Excellence in Agriculture in Europe and Central Asia" which started in November 2020 with a “Call for Good Practices in the field of Digital Agriculture in Europe and Central Asia".
From the 192 practices received through the Call, 171 practices were considered to meet the eligibility criteria to enter the Digital Excellence in Agriculture Regional Contest. As a result of the evaluation process, 28 practices have been selected to compete for the final part of the contest.
The Awards Ceremony will be the occasion to discover the 28 selected practices and announce:
- The winners of the “Digital Excellence in Agriculture" award (1 per category);
- The second and third honorable mentions of the “Digital Excellence in Agriculture" award (2 per category);
- The selected “Champion" practices coming from the 18 countries of ITU-FAO Review of the Study of Digital Agriculture in Europe and Central Asia (1 per category).
Through this Awards Ceremony, stakeholders discovered how innovative ICT-Based solutions can make financial services more accessible to all stakeholders contributing to the agricultural sector, enhance market access to agriculture products and services, enable capacity development and empowerment, or foster sharing of skills and technical expertise, between others. All of which stimulates agripreneurs to bring novel digital solutions to life.
Technologies, such as connected farm management systems, robots and drones are now more than ever a solution to obsolete and polluting agricultural practices. The Awards Ceremony also provided great examples for stakeholders to implement advanced agriculture innovation systems, which are key to introduce more sustainable farming and spur innovation in the agriculture landscape of Europe and Central Asia.
The 6 phases of the “Digital Excellence in Agriculture: ITU-FAO Regional Contest in Europe and Central Asia" are as follow:
- Call for Good Practices in the field of Digital Agriculture in Europe and Central Asia - Submission of good practices from 4 November until 11 January 2021;
- Nomination of outstanding practices in the course of May 2021;
- Production of a stocktaking report including all good practices received;
- Selection of the finalists and awardees;
- Production of a special promotional video focusing on outstanding good practices as well as the production of the Digital Excellence in Agriculture report;
- “Digital Excellence in Agriculture in Europe and Central Asia" virtual Awards Ceremony on 23 September 2021;
- Launching event of the "Digital Excellence in Agriculture" Report in the course of December.
