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INNOVA-VERDE Contest will finance 20 innovative ideas that reduce carbon emissions in the Costa Rican Coffee Sector

August 17, 2023, San José, Costa Rica - As of this August 17, people who are part of the Costa Rican Coffee Sector will be able to participate in the INNOVA-VERDE ideas contest whose objective is to finance innovative initiatives that reduce carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases (GHG) from this productive sector.

In this first edition, INNOVA-VERDE will be implemented in the Coffee Sector and seeks to support at least 20 innovative ideas with non-reimbursable funds for just over ₡178,000,000. The contest is led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), coordinated by the German Development Cooperation GIZ and the Banco Ambiental Foundation (FUNBAM), while the execution will be in charge of the Costa Rican Coffee Institute (ICAFE).

This initiative is extremely important to promote and accelerate sustainable solutions in the country's productive sectors, so that by maintaining their productivity and profitability they can also reduce their environmental footprint and increase their resilience to climate change. MAG Vice Minister Fernando Vargas stated: "We are committed to promoting environmental sustainability in the Costa Rican coffee sector. This contest is an excellent opportunity to identify and support innovative ideas that have a positive impact on our environment and contribute to development sustainable of the country".

The INNOVA-VERDE contest will reward ideas in two thematic lines:

• Scalability: Proposals are sought that allow the scalability of technologies that have already been empirically and scientifically proven in a way that significantly increases the number of farms/producers and/or agents in the value chain that adopt these technologies.

• Innovation: Proposals and ideas are also sought that focus on the development and piloting of innovations and new technologies.

The contest is open for the participation of producers or any agent of the coffee value chain that demonstrates a link with primary production, it should be noted that a minimum participation of 25% of women and young people is sought. In addition, when someone requires collaboration, associations, cooperatives, NGOs or universities may collaborate in support of the beneficiary.

“The European Union is committed to supporting Costa Rica in its transition towards low-emission, climate-resilient and sustainable agricultural production systems. In this first ideas contest we will be favoring the coffee sector to innovate, be more resilient and scale up solutions, but other contests will come for the musáceas and livestock sectors. This initiative is aligned with the shared climate commitments in terms of mitigation and adaptation, and is part of the external dimension of the European Green Pact”, said Katja de Sadeleer, Political Advisor and Chargé d'Affaires a.i of the European Union in Costa Rica.

For the executive director of ICAFE, Gustavo Jiménez, "Coffee is an integral part of our culture and economy. We are excited to collaborate in this contest and provide support to ideas that promote the sustainability and resilience of the coffee sector in Costa Rica" .

 

How to take part?

To be part of the contest, you must complete the registration form that you will find on the website www.icafe.cr/innova-verde/, right there you will have access to the documents that detail the contest guidelines, in addition, through social networks from ICAFÉ, MAG and GIZ will be informed about the different ways in which support will be provided to people interested in formulating their proposals.

Interested persons will have time to present their proposals until October 17, 2023 and can send their questions to the email: concursoideas@icafe.cr

It is important to highlight that in order to comply with the requirements, a minimum counterpart from the beneficiary and the beneficiary of 50% of the required investment is necessary, which can be in kind and/or in cash.

INNOVA-VERDE is a contest of ideas co-financed by the European Union and the Government of Germany, it will have a total of 3 editions, this first in the coffee sector, soon in the livestock and musaceae sectors, with non-reimbursable funds of up to €300,000 euros for each contest. With great enthusiasm we hope to start receiving innovative proposals for this first edition of the INNOVA-VERDE contest. The ideas we are looking for will be evaluated based on their potential to reduce the main sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the sector, their adaptation and resilience to the effects of climate change, research/academic inclusion and cost-effectiveness. The participation of women and young people is very important and we strongly encourage them to present their ideas, indicated Alberto Vega, Director of the TRANSFORMA-INNOVA program, on behalf of GIZ.

The INNOVA-VERDE ideas contest is carried out within the framework of the multi-donor program TRANSFORMA-INNOVA "Transformative routes in low carbon emissions and climate resilient - Climate-smart agriculture and value chains in Costa Rica", financed by the Ministry Federal Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection (BMWK), the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) through its International Climate Initiative (IKI), as well as co-financed by the Union European. TRANSFORMA-INNOVA is implemented by the German Development Cooperation GIZ, as the lead agency of the consortium made up of the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE), Conservation International Costa Rica (CI-CR), CRUSA Foundation, Banco Ambiental Foundation ( FUNBAM) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Contacto de prensa ICAFE:
David Ortiz Naranjo
2243-7806
dortiz@icafe.cr

Contacto de prensa MAG:
Rosa Brenes
8702-3085
rbrenes@mag.go.cr

Contacto de prensa GIZ:
Natalia Romero    
8896-6038
natalia.romeromora@giz.de