International Symposium on "Innovation and Sustainable Development in Agriculture and Food". Organisation of a satellite session on the Mediterranean (ISDA-2010 MED)

This Round Table brought together senior agricultural and rural development Ministry and development agency officials and specialists from northern and southern Mediterranean countries and international organisations. The experts discussed global and national policies that foster innovation for sustainable development in agriculture and food in the Mediterranean Region. Panelists drew on practical experience and lessons from successful cases from the OECD, Egypt, France and Morocco, and address the following three questions. First, what are the main drivers and spaces of agricultural and rural innovation for sustainable development at the national, regional and global levels? Second, what institutions have been successful in mediating and promoting learning and innovation and what support do they need? Third, what governance frameworks are required to allocate resources and manage complexity effectively for innovation (e.g. participatory learning approaches, public policies, financing, and assessing impact). The panel session concluded with some practical implications for better linking research and policy making processes and actors to foster innovation.