SEED and Go4SDGs jointly organise four Global Future Labs for Innovation and Policy. The Global Future Labs will bring together policy makers, intermediaries and SMEs to co-create and develop future-proof solutions. Designed to connect a community of 30 – 40 participants and to leverage the expertise of key green SME stakeholders, the Global Future Labs will inform a New Green SME Action Agenda.

The Global Future Labs target five action areas: Innovation, Non-Financial Support, Finance, Policy and Market. The insights from the discussions will provide concrete action items on how to better support green SMEs that apply circular technologies.

Over the next few months, there will be four Global Future Labs engaging green SME stakeholders in the Agri-Food or Textile-Fashion sectors across Africa, Asia, Latin America and West Asia:

• Africa Future Lab on Agriculture and Food | July 28, 2022 
• West Asia Future Lab on Textile and Fashion | September 20th, 2022
• Asia Future Lab on Textile and Fashion | October 4th, 2022 (registration open)
• Latin America Future Lab on Agriculture and Food | October 13th, 2022 (registration open)

Green SMEs are at the forefront in the fight against the adverse environmental effects of the agri-food and textile-fashion sectors, pioneering innovative solutions along the value chain. The Global Future Labs will guide key SME stakeholders through discussing and developing future-proof solutions to these challenges.

The Africa Future Lab

The Africa Future Lab offers a platform for green SME stakeholders across the region to develop future-proof solutions for challenges in the agriculture and food sector.

You can find the agenda for the Africa Future Lab here.

The agriculture-food sector is the largest employer worldwide, making it a key driver of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, the agriculture-food sector has been characterised by harmful environmental practices. Globally, the agriculture-food sector is responsible for 26% of greenhouse gas emissions while contributing locally to environmental degradation using pesticides and other toxic chemicals.

In Africa, the agriculture-food sector is highly vulnerable. At the same time, the region is expected to experience some of the harshest effects of climate change, such as temperature increases, more frequent droughts and floods. Additionally, sub-Saharan Africa is home to the fastest-growing population, adding pressure to the food system.

The Africa Future Lab will discuss practical solutions and exemplary cases for these challenges. Green SMEs are pioneers in this process. They participate in a wide range of services, such as transport, logistics, sale of inputs (fertilisers, seeds, etc.) and improve market access for farmers. Moreover, smallholder farmers produce up to 70% of the regional food supply.

Find out more about how Green SMEs drive change across the five action areas of Innovation, Non-Financial Support, Finance, Policy and the Market here.

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