UNDP’s Accelerator Labs Network has prototyped a new kind of research and development (R&D): learning from signals of change to see patterns that create global business intelligence. What you will see in this document are “next practices” for food systems: R&D activities ready to scale globally, future areas for collaboration and a theory of change to drive experimentation for SDG acceleration. Based on patterns we see across Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe and beyond, we show the value of combining grassroots knowledge and AI to build sustainable food systems.

R&D in the UNDP Accelerator Labs focuses on areas where food systems can be made fairer and more resilient by learning from and with communities, with relatively small investments and in a relatively short time.