The Austrian Federal Chancellery, together with the Kofi Annan Foundation, invites entrepreneurial start-ups with a proven business model and a demonstrated social impact to submit their business plans to bring their impact to scale and benefit as many Africans as possible. The award is operationally supported by the Austrian Development Agency and the WFP Innovation Accelerator. The Kofi Annan Award for Innovation in Africa seeks to raise awareness for the potential African entrepreneurs hold to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and honor the late Kofi Annan’s legacy and commitment to a more just and equitable world.

The importance of redoubling the global efforts to transform agri-food systems was recently highlighted by the findings of the UN report on the“State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023”. Global hunger is still far above pre-pandemic levels – It is estimated that between 690 and 783 million people in the world will face hunger in 2022. And hunger is still on the rise. Moreover, it is projected that almost 600 million people will be chronically undernourished in 2030. This demonstrates the immense challenge of achieving the SDG target to eradicate hunger, particularly in Africa. Therefore, Austria has made a new commitment towards the World Food Programme i.e. 60 Mio. EUR more for the years 2023 to 2025.

Additionally, it is time to scale up innovation and collaboration, because ensuring food security not only requires natural resources. It also requires continuous innovation and entrepreneurial drive, especially in the current context. The term AGRI-TECH is crucial in this context: agri-tech describes how technological innovations boost output, efficiency, and profitability – As a result, those innovations can become a turning point in the fight against hunger. It involves big data, AI, and other technologies to address agricultural challenges. The number of agritech providers has recently increased sharply, but those solutions need to be further developed. Therefore, the Austrian Federal Chancellery wants to contribute to the 2nd edition of the Kofi Annan Award. Innovative ideas and creative impulses are necessary to build a robust food supply in the future.