Turning CGIAR innovations into development investments
How can agricultural research help shape the investments that governments make to improve food security and climate resilience? At CGIAR Scaling Week 2026, the session “From Innovation to Investment: Building a CGIAR–IFI Pipeline for Impact at Scale” explored how science can connect more effectively with international financial institutions (IFIs) and national investment priorities.
Organized under the CGIAR Scaling for Impact (S4I) Program’s Area of Work 4, the session reflected collaboration across IITA, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), CIMMYT and ICARDA. Speakers from the World Bank, African Development Bank and AIM for Scale examined what makes an innovation relevant, investable and implementable within large development programmes.
The Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) Clearinghouse, led by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), offered a practical example. With more than 200 evidence-based technologies, it connects CGIAR innovations with country investment opportunities through project-design missions and an e-catalogue. Its experience shows why scaling requires technologies to be packaged with evidence, technical assistance, and implementation support.
Start with the investment problem
An innovation can perform well in field trials and still struggle to reach farmers. Weak delivery systems, limited finance or policies that constrain adoption can prevent a promising technology from becoming widely used.
The discussion called for CGIAR to begin with government priorities: what development problem is an investment trying to solve, and where can research contribute? This requires engagement during country strategy development, investment planning and early project design, while decisions can still be shaped.
Scientific evidence must then become an investment proposition. Governments and IFIs need to understand economic viability, cost-effectiveness, expected outcomes and implementation risks. They also need confidence that national institutions and delivery partners can support adoption. CGIAR can help by improving targeting, informing policy choices and identifying the capacities an investment will require.
What integrated investment looks like
The TAAT experience illustrated how this works in practice. The Programme for Integrated Development and Adaptation to Climate Change in the Zambezi River Basin, approved by the African Development Bank in December 2022, incorporated CGIAR technologies and technical assistance within a broader regional investment.
Its regional component included a catalogue of climate-smart technologies. Technical assistance in Mozambique and Zambia included the AGWISE digital tool, which provides recommendations on fertilizer, planting time and agricultural practices. Dedicated implementation support helped connect these technologies and expertise with the investment’s delivery requirements.
In Guinea-Bissau, the Project to Support the Emergency Food Crisis, also approved in December 2022, incorporated USD 255,801 for TAAT implementation support. CGIAR-supported technologies included climate-resilient crop varieties, cassava multiplication techniques and improved vegetable technologies. Technical assistance and training supported national research and agricultural institutions and producers through TAAT’s Vegetable, Cassava, and Sorghum and Millet Compacts.
Both examples show the value of combining technologies with the institutions and expertise needed to deploy them. The investment package creates a pathway through which research can contribute to implementation and lasting outcomes.
Invest in the conditions for adoption
Those pathways depend on people and systems. Climate-smart seeds require reliable suppliers, appropriate regulation, and distribution networks. Digital advisory services need institutional ownership and sustainable financing. Machinery needs maintenance services and incentives that make it affordable to use.
Gender, youth, and wider social considerations also matter. Investment design must account for who can access an innovation, whose needs it addresses and which barriers could exclude potential users. Government leadership and coordination help ensure that these conditions are addressed together.
CGIAR’s role should continue through implementation. Technical assistance, demonstrations, monitoring, and learning can help partners adapt as challenges emerge. Longer-term and phased investments offer opportunities to strengthen national capabilities so that results can continue beyond individual projects.
Building a more systematic pipeline
The session identified practical priorities for CGIAR: engage governments and IFIs earlier; match innovations to investment needs; present evidence in terms relevant to financing decisions; assess the surrounding policies and delivery systems; and remain involved through implementation and learning.
A systematic pipeline would connect government-defined challenges with relevant innovations, develop the investment case and build technical support into project design. Cross-centre collaboration can bring complementary expertise to that process, linking agricultural technologies with water management, institutional capacity and delivery.
This means asking how an innovation fits a specific major public investment, what support partners need to implement it, and how benefits will be maintained. Scientific quality remains essential, while investment readiness helps evidence inform decisions about financing and delivery in practice.
The measure of success should be better development outcomes from large investments, supported by national systems capable of sustaining adoption.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Timothy J. Krupnik, Inga Jacobs-Mata (IWMI) and Solomon Gizaw (IITA) for leadership; speakers Alexander Lotsch, Faris Okou and Tobias Baedeker; and Shreya Chakraborty (IWMI), Ravi Nandi (CIMMYT) and Rhiannon Crichton (ICARDA) for session preparation and design.