World Agrifood Innovation Forum a big deal in China

It's quite unlikely that our readers will have heard much or heard anything at all about the second World Agrifood Innovation Forum which was hosted in Beijing from 10 to 12 October.

This meeting is going from strength to strength each year and clearly signals China’s ambition to be a global leader in agri-food innovation.

In its own introduction, the forum aims to be the Davos of agriculture and the meeting is part of a concerted effort to highlight the huge investment in Beijing’s suburb of Pinggu in an agricultural Silicon Valley.

Pinggu is 80km outside of Beijing and is a major green hub, which also plays host to an impressive joint campus between China Agricultural University and Wageningen University.

There is a large-scale dairy trial farm, which is operated by modern dairy and extensive research facilities for cropping, cellular agriculture and food science. There seems to be preferential policies for entrepreneurs to register to set up in their innovation park, though like many concepts, these often can fail to materialise.

World’s leading agricultural university

The lead partner in the conference and the agricultural Silicon Valley is China Agricultural University (CAU). By many measures, CAU is already the world’s leading agricultural university and having had the chance to engage with the university president, it is highly refreshing to hear him speak about the importance of internationalisation, about how closely aligned the university is with our own institutions in terms of their understanding of the major challenges and opportunities facing agriculture.

Feeding the world is clearly an area where science and development can build bridges and CAU is trying to inspire their students to be international in their outlook.

Indeed, Irish education institutions have strong links in place with CAU and it has been a focus to develop collaboration with this world-leading organisation.

Feeding the world is clearly an area where science and development can build bridges and CAU is trying to inspire their students to be international in their outlook.

The meeting itself boasted some seriously impressive Chinese VIPs with the founders and owners of New Hope Group, Muyuan Group and others all in attendance.

With over 6,000 people present over the days and a three million following online, this meeting is not only a big deal within China but also outside China. There were at least 300 foreign guests present. Aidan Connolly from Ireland was present and spoke about some of the trends in technology and speakers from the FAO and leading organisations from developing countries (including a China-Africa tech forum).

Ireland’s former ambassador to China, Ann Derwin, is on the advisory committee of the forum and has been showcasing the importance of women in agriculture in the run up to the event.

The conference is also a good place showcase local and international innovation and one of the key drivers of the meeting, Dr Fu Wenge, who runs the MBA programme, has big ambitions for the future of the meeting, including plans to run accelerators, incubators and attractive prizes for future participants.