Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), May 31, 2024 – Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri, Head of the International Affairs Office at the Presidential Court of the UAE, and Michael Kremer, 2019 Economics Nobel laureate and Chair of the Innovation Commission, met in Abu Dhabi to initiate a partnership to support the design of the Agriculture Innovation Mechanism for Scaling (AIM for Scale).
AIM for Scale was launched at COP28 as a joint initiative between the UAE and the Gates Foundation (BMGF) to transition food systems innovations to scale in order to address challenges of climate adaptation and mitigation.
Last year, the Innovation Commission partnered with the COP28 UAE Presidency to provide recommendations to transition an initial set of cost-effective innovations to scale. The development, procurement, and dissemination of improved weather forecasts topped that list, and will be the focus of AIM for Scale during its first year of activities.
“Food system transformation was a key focus for the COP28 Presidency and we were delighted to see AIM for Scale launched in Dubai. This initiative will see a major commitment from COP28 made a reality, mobilizing large-scale investments towards scaling evidence-based innovations which has the potential to benefit tens, if not hundreds of millions of people,” highlighted Kristofer Hamel, Head of Food Systems for COP28, during a workshop hosted by AIM for Scale in Abu Dhabi. “The delivery of accurate weather forecasts can generate benefits that outweigh the costs by over 100 times. AIM for Scale will leverage the technical expertise of the Innovation Commission and the convening powers of BMGF and the UAE to operationalize this vision together with a coalition of partners,” said Hamel.
“The right sequence of philanthropic, government, and multilateral investments in accurate weather forecasts could be catalytic in delivering large benefits to farmers. AIM for Scale offers an important platform for coordinating this sequence of investments,” noted Kremer. “We hope that this turns into a long-term partnership to scale other evidence-based innovations for the benefit of hundreds of millions of people in low- and middle-income countries.”
The Innovation Commission for Climate Change, Food Security, and Agriculture is an independent initiative at the University of Chicago that identifies innovations with rigorous evidence of impact and cost-effectiveness, as well as early-stage innovations with high expected returns, and generates recommendations to transition them to scale. The Innovation Commission includes former heads of state and finance ministers, and leaders in international organizations and civil society.
For more information contact Imara Salas, Secretariat Senior Manager, Innovation Commission for Climate Change, Food Security, and Agriculture at imara@uchicago.edu.