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International Innovation Hub


Food systems face complex challenges : malnutrition in all its forms, food and nutritional insecurity, environmental and health impacts, climate change, and more. To address these challenges, more than ever, scientific expertise must be able to combine with the initiatives of local stakeholders to foster innovations adapted to local needs.
 
Nevertheless, particularly in developing countries, these approaches encounter obstacles : lack of financial, material, and human resources, restricted access to technology, limited institutional capacity to support startups and entrepreneurs, and insufficient connections to markets.
 
To help overcome these obstacles, academic stakeholders from Montpellier, the Metropolitan Area, and the international organization CGIAR, fueled by the MedVallée dynamic, have joined forces to create an International Innovation Hub, with the goal of stimulating innovation for sustainable food systems on an international scale.
 
Indeed, scientific cooperation with countries of the Global South on agricultural and food issues has been part of Montpellier’s DNA for decades, with the establishment of organizations such as CIRAD, CIHEAM-IAM.M, IRD, the Tropics and Mediterranean Cluster of the Agro Institute, and CGIAR, all federated within the Agropolis International association.
 
Building on the experience of its founding members, this Hub aims to strengthen cooperation between structures supporting innovative entrepreneurship, make research results and scientific expertise more accessible to project leaders, mobilize funding for innovation in support of socio-ecological transitions, and share experiences.
 
Under the aegis of the steering committee, Agropolis International leads the collective of stakeholders involved in this initiative.

FRENCH
 
Contact :
Sabrina Deforge
Innovation project officer
iih@agropolis.fr

The International Innovation Hub Opens to West Africa


Partnership Agreement Signed on October 6, 2025

This project is part of a dynamic but fragmented West African innovation ecosystem, marked by weak links between research, incubators, entrepreneurs, and the private sector. Innovative Entrepreneurship Support Structures (SAEI) remain poorly structured and have limited resources to support startups and leverage research results. The partnership agreement between the partner organizations was signed on October 6, 2025, during the Euro-Africa Biennial in Montpellier.

The International Innovation Hub at the Euro-Africa Biennale in Montpellier


Organization of a roundtable on October 6

At the invitation of the International Innovation Hub and thanks to support from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty as part of cooperation programs between academic organizations, delegations of innovation stakeholders from Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal are participating in an exchange program from October 6 to 10 as part of the Euro-Africa Biennale in Montpellier.

A delegation from the International Innovation Hub visits Rome


To strengthen partnerships with IFAD, FAO, and WFP

A delegation from the International Innovation Hub (IIH) traveled to Rome to meet with innovation teams from IFAD, FAO, and WFP. Organized by the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations, this visit by representatives from CIRAD, IRD, Institut Agro, INRAE, and Agropolis International marks a key step in the IIH’s strategy to develop international collaborations around scientific innovation for sustainable food systems.