The Institute for Agricultural Innovation of Panama (IDIAP) launched a new digital platform at the end of September 2022 to facilitate access to the information generated by all its projects. This is the first of its kind adopted by a FONTAGRO member country, which allows the institution to join the new digital reality in order to better serve producers and the work they do in the agricultural sector, facilitating access to knowledge of research and results.
The platform stands out for its ease of use and its ability to streamline the information gathering process for projects. Thanks to it, researchers can work together more efficiently, sharing information and knowledge easily and quickly. In addition, the platform is designed to be user-friendly, which means that it can be used directly by the information generators, adapting it to the needs of projects of any size.
One of the most interesting aspects of the IDIAP platform is its focus on knowledge transfer. In this regard, Maika Barrera, Nutrition Researcher and Project Manager at IDIAP, Panama, who led this digital transformation process within the institution, highlights that, despite being a very new tool for them, they are already seeing results.
“At the institutional level, it has made our work more visible; our research is not only being published in scientific journals, everyone has access to it. We have already been contacted by universities whose students are interested in our research work”, says Barría.
Of the effort made, Maika highlights the enormous team work carried out by IDIAP personnel who with great effort consolidated all the content that was uploaded to the platform, which so far houses the information of 47 projects. FONTAGRO has provided all its member countries with the possibility of adapting its platform to the particular needs of each institution, with the objective of providing access to the information generated in all research. So far, the Panamanian research institution is the first to take this step; however, it is expected that after this experience, interest will grow at the regional level.
“The researchers themselves have found it to be an important novelty, since the platform makes the work they are doing visible. We are still working on the possibilities it allows us to better communicate our scientific work, make it grow and improve it,” says Barría.
To learn more about the platform and IDIAP’s projects, soon to be developed in English, click here.
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About FONTAGRO
FONTAGRO was created 1998 with the purpose of promoting the increase of the competitiveness of the agri-food sector, ensuring the sustainable management of natural resources and the reduction of poverty in the region. The objective of FONTAGRO is to establish itself as a sustainable financing mechanism for the development of agricultural technology and innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean and Spain, and to establish a forum for the discussion of priority topics of technological innovation. The member countries are: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. In the last 21 years 167 regional agricultural innovation platforms have been co-financed for an amount of US $ 124 million, which has reached 452 institutions and 33 countries worldwide.