CGIAR Digital Transformation

The first image in this video might look AI-generated. It isn’t. It’s a real image from one of the many solutions we have tested in experimental fields over the years to improve crop breeding with AI. At the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)' AI for Food Security Forum, Jawoo Koo shared examples of how CGIAR research Centers use AI-powered phenotyping tools to accelerate variety selection, reduce costs, and better support the development of climate-resilient crop varieties. AI isn't a promise for the future it's already used in the field. Watch the full presentation on YouTube 👉 https://lnkd.in/eChJThR3

Start with people. Then design. That’s our motto for the week as our human-centred design (HCD) champions explore how to put people at the heart of digital tool development in UM6P - University Mohammed VI Polytechnic We've invited these champions to share how HCD & putting users first has changed the way they design and build digital tools. Today, we start with Benedict Jardinero from the International Rice Research Institute, whose team developed Pal.ai, a generative AI chatbot designed to serve as a personal digital adviser for rice farmers and agricultural extension workers. When Beni and his team tested the tool with 100 farmers in the Philippines, 🇵🇭 their feedback challenged the team’s initial assumptions and pushed them to refine the App ⤵️

🔬 Are you a #CGIAR researcher? Check out CGLabs for your computationally intensive experiments. Skip the infrastructure headaches — just log in, choose your compute (CPU & RAM), and launch #JupyterLab or #RStudio in seconds. ✅ R & Python, ready to go ✅ Datasets pre-loaded, GitHub push/pull built in ✅ Geospatial toolkit (GDAL, Open Data Cube) & crop-modelling services (DSSAT, QUEFTS, ECOCROP, WOFOST) ✅ Shared workspaces for real collaboration Cloud-native, collaborative, and built for science. 🌱 CGLabs is funded by the CGIAR Sustainable Farming and CGIAR Digital Transformation, and implemented by International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) 👉 Explore it: https://cglabs.cgiar.org/

Who is GARDIAN for? 👩🔬 Researchers looking for reliable, standardised datasets 📊 Data scientists building models and working across multiple data sources 🏛️ Policymakers looking for evidence to inform agricultural strategies 🌱 Development organisations working across agriculture and food systems If you work with agricultural research and data, GARDIAN gives you one place to start your search. 👉 Explore GARDIAN: https://gardian.cgiar.org #DataCommunity #AgResearch #Innovation #CGIAR CGIAR Digital Transformation

Finding agricultural research & data shouldn't be complicated. Here are 3 easy steps to get started with GARDIAN, the CGIAR platform that connects data across repositories and provides AI-ready datasets for ag ⤵️ 1. Go to the platform. 2. Type your topic, for example, "fertilization in Kenya." 3. Explore relevant datasets and publications. That's it. Your next research insight is just one search away! 👉 Start exploring here: https://gardian.cgiar.org CGIAR Sustainable Farming

Can we turn 50 years of research into AI-based tools for agriculture? At the UAE’s Global Food Week, the UAE–Gates Foundation $200M partnership, supporting, among other initiatives, our #CGIARAIHub, was in the spotlight. The Hub pools expertise, data & resources to develop AI-based products designed to address current agricultural challenges. How does it work? 🔬 CGIAR Research Centers contribute expertise, research, & data 💡 Our Accelerator supports the development of AI prototypes 🤖 Partners such as MBZUAI (Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence) & ai71 bring AI engineering capabilities 🌱 AIM for Scale connect with scaling partners & support product adoption. What exciting projects are in the pipeline? Agri-LLM, a specialised agricultural large language model for farmers; MaiWater AI, an AI hydrological model supporting water management across transboundary river basins; Genebanks AI, designed to help users unlock our genebanks' genetic material - & more! UAE Agriculture Innovation

How can we leverage our understanding of pangenomes to address real-world challenges through plant breeding? 🌱 We recently sponsored a training on constructing & applying pangenomes for crop breeding in 🇰🇪 For long, breeding programs have relied on a single reference genome to represent an entire crop species. But as climate pressures mount, we are missing crucial genetic diversity locked away in wild relatives and landraces. Pangenomes are comprehensive maps that capture a species' entire genetic repertoire, not just one individual. By revealing resistance genes, drought-tolerance markers, or nutritional traits, pangenomes are one way to give breeders additional data to develop climate-resilient, highly nutritious crops faster. The sessions brought together 20 researchers & scientists who delve deep into state-of-the-art genome assembly, sequencing, and tiered pangenome design. Armed with these advanced precision genetics tools, participants are now bringing this expertise back to their breeding programs, empowering their teams in turn. Thank you to all leading minds who made this possible! International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Bayer, inqaba biotec, The University of Western Australia, Diplomatics, Corteva Agriscience, University of Tennessee. More in the first comment ⤵️

📢 Webinar: As part of our Community of Practice on Human-Centred Design, 4 UI designers will share examples of how they integrate AI into their work, alongside a critical look at risks, boundaries & limitations, including: 🔹Vibe coding a portfolio: How a designer without a coding background used Claude for planning, building, and generating images & videos 🔹Setting AI principles: How a team decided where AI should lead or support human work, and which tasks should remain firmly in human hands. 🔹Keeping design and code in sync: How a design system helps maintain consistency, and what AI is not allowed to do. 🔹Understanding the risks: Where AI can support design practice and where human judgement matters most. Join us and ask your questions to the speakers during the Q&A session! 📅 15 October, 15:00 - 16:00 CEST - 📍Online 🔗 Register here: https://lnkd.in/ehJGhZ_6 Featuring: Aline Weinsheimer & Charlotte Schumann, Glashaus Innovation | Berlin, Ross Fenner, Narli, Arwa Manzoor, Juan Manuel Londono, Berta Ortiz Crespo, Melissa Bonilla Barillas, & Timothy Gichia, Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT

MaiWater AI, an AI-augmented hydrological model, recently featured at a stakeholder consultation hosted by the Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the UN, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. As part of the #CGIARAIHubCGIARAIHub, MaiWater AI combines advanced hydrological modeling, decision-support dashboards, and digital twins, making trusted hydrological intelligence accessible to stakeholders and countries across transboundary river basins. MaiWater AI enables policy makers, hydrologists, researchers and water managers to forecast hydrological conditions in real-time, run scenarios across water, energy and biodiversity, and ultimately make informed decisions on local and regional water governance. The initiative is supported by the International Affairs Office at the UAE Presidential Court UAE Agriculture Innovation, by International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and developed with American University of Sharjah, ai71, Limpopo Watercourse Commission. Learn more 👉 https://lnkd.in/e8mEwPfU

On October 26 in Addis Ababa, ANAPRI is convening the first-ever Political Economy of AI in African Agrifood Systems workshop, looking at who shapes AI in African agrifood systems & who already benefits from it. Researchers, policymakers, technology actors and civil society will examine what we are already learning from AI in practice, where policy gaps remain, and how evidence can inform national, regional and continental approaches to how AI is governed, contested and applied across food, land and water systems. New research curated and selected for the event will also be presented. Virtual participants can attend the opening plenary, and then select a breakout session, before returning to the open plenary discussion: 1. Data governance and digital infrastructure: who controls the means? 2. AI and the organization of public life: who shapes decisions? 3. AI in the majority world: who benefits, and who bears the risks? 📅 Date: 26 October 2026 - Time: 8:30am-1pm EAT 📍 Venue: Hyatt Regency, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Hybrid Event) 👉 Register & check the agenda here: https://lnkd.in/eTDBYxUB Africa Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ANAPRI) / International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) / CGIAR Policy Innovations