For the sustainable production of more nutritious food from limited land and resources, the adoption of agricultural innovations must be accelerated. Those include technologies that enable smart agriculture and plant-based technologies like genome editing and genetic modifications.

Several enabling factors are involved in the successful introduction and adoption of these innovations. Governments should ensure that regulations accelerate the adoption of innovations in a timely manner without sacrificing safety, transparency, sustainability, and profitability. Academia should contribute to the establishment of science- and fact-based regulations, and the private sector should provide support through investment, knowledge, and experience.

This e-course will focus on emerging agricultural innovations, the rationale for enabling regulations to accelerate the adoption of innovations, examples of regulatory frameworks from leading countries, and key considerations in developing and adopting regulations as innovation enablers.

The Asian Productivity Organization developed this course with the support of Dr. Paul Teng, Managing Director and Dean, NIE International Pte. Ltd., Singapore, and Dr. Andrew D. Powell, Chief Executive Officer, Asia BioBusiness Pte. Ltd., Singapore.

Course Objectives

The main objectives of this course are to:

• Understand key agricultural innovations and the concept of enabling regulations.
• Examine regulatory frameworks of key innovations through case studies.
• Learn about considerations in developing and adopting regulations to accelerate agricultural innovation.

Course Modules

This e-learning course will cover the following modules:
Module 1: Overview of innovative agricultural technologies and the role of regulations as enablers 
Module 2: Case study of regulatory frameworks for drone applications
Module 3: Case study of genome editing
Module 4: Case study of genetically modified crops
Module 5: Case study of alternative proteins

Important Notes:

1. Participants who register to take this course and pass the final examination with a score of 70% or higher will be eligible to receive the APO certificate. Please note that the final examination can be taken only once. Therefore, the most appropriate time to take the examination should be chosen carefully. The self-assessment quizzes are for personal evaluation only and are not related to the final examination results.
2. Participants who perform well in this course and receive the APO certificate will be given preference, on a merit basis, for selection to attend follow-up face-to-face multicountry APO projects on similar topics, when nominated by their NPOs and if slots are available.
3. Notes 1 and 2 are applicable only to participants from APO member countries. Participants from nonmember countries are welcome to take the course for self-improvement, although they will not have an opportunity to attend the follow-up face-to-face multicountry APO projects.
4. Each module is in a prerecorded video format in which the expert delivers presentations by explaining each slide. Participants can access the video by clicking on the link provided under the title of each module.