Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), UN-Habitat | Source | Report |
Published jointly by the OECD and UN-Habitat under the South African G20 Presidency, this policy brief examines the role of food-tech ecosystems in intermediary cities for advancing sustainable food security. It argues that achieving the twin global goals of net-zero emissions and zero hunger requires unleashing the potential of food-tech innovation and anchoring it in local innovation ecosystems, with particular attention to intermediary cities that connect urban and rural areas. The brief reports that the share of people facing moderate or severe food insecurity has risen from 21.5% in 2015 to 28% in 2024, and that agrifood systems accounted for about 1/3 of global anthropogenic GHG emissions in 2022, up roughly 14% since 1990. Venture capital investment in food-tech surged nearly 12-fold in 15 years, from approximately USD 4 billion in 2010-2012 to an estimated USD 47 billion in 2022-2024. Approximately 31% of food-tech start-ups worldwide are located in intermediary cities, compared to 26% for other sectors. The brief presents case studies from intermediary cities in Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Jordan, and Kenya, demonstrating how public-private partnerships, international development cooperation, and local innovation ecosystems are piloting food-tech solutions. Policy recommendations include promoting open science and technology transfer, enhancing peer learning on governance pilots, closing digital and physical infrastructure gaps, strengthening quality infrastructure systems such as the OECD Seed Schemes, and building local government capacity. The brief calls for a step change in international development policy guided by place-based, localized approaches, with greater national and international attention to the food-tech initiatives piloted by intermediary cities.
