IIn close collaboration with other CGIAR centers, IFPRI will increasingly provide ex post and ex ante technology policy research. This will focus on how to make technological developments relevant and accessible to poor people, with a particular emphasis on intellectual property rights issues and the potential of public-private partnership arrangements. The opportunities and risks of biotechnology, including genetic engineering, for smallholder farming systems, poor consumers, and trade will remain high on the research agenda, along with biosafety policy issues. Research will also examine the closely related issues of the conservation and sustainable management of genetic resources for food and agriculture and the preservation of biodiversity. The impact of information and communications technologies on the connectedness of rural areas and on food, nutrition, and targeted poverty reduction will be a new cross-cutting research theme related to food markets and rural services. IFPRI will continue to analyze data on investments in and national policies regarding agricultural R&D, and to examine the factors that inhibit or enhance the performance, effectiveness, and efficiency of agricultural science, technology, and innovation.

• Genetic Resource Policies for the Poor
  Leader: Melinda Smale
• Agricultural Science and Technology Policy
  Leaders: David J. Spielman and Nienke Beintema
  • Agricultural Science & Technology Indicators (ASTI)
    Leader: Nienke Beintema
• Program for Biosafety Systems
  Leader: Mark Rosegrant
• Institutional Change in Agricultural Innovation Systems
  Leader: Javier Ekboir
  • Public-Private Partnerships and Networks
    Leader: David J. Spielman
• Organization and Management for Strengthening of Agricultural Research Institutions
  Interim Leader: Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere