Feed the Future Innovation Labs

U.S Department of State
Office of Global Food Security
Feed the Future Innovation Labs

Call for Statements of Interest

The Office of Global Food Security of the U.S. Department of State announces an open competition for organizations to submit a statement of interest (SOI) to serve as a Management Entity to design, host, and lead a Feed the Future Innovation Lab (FtF Innovation Lab).

The FtF Innovation Labs will advance solutions to reduce global hunger, poverty, and malnutrition, both at home and abroad, including in response to shocks and stresses to food and nutrition security. Agricultural research underpins food supply stability, food security, and food affordability both in the United States and in developing countries. This call for Statements of Interest recognizes the importance of U.S. scientific leadership in protecting the global food supply through American excellence in agricultural research and development (R&D).

The objectives and areas of inquiry of the program are:

Objective 1: Advance agricultural science and research to increase productivity, mitigate threats to production systems, and support food systems to reduce hunger and malnutrition through enhanced supply of nutritious and safe foods.

• Area of Inquiry 1.1 Agricultural Systems and Sustainable Intensification of Production
• Area of Inquiry 1.2 Livestock and Animal Health

Objective 2: Increase demand and improve market pathways to increase uptake of nutritious and safe foods for individuals, households, governments, and the private sector.

• Area of Inquiry 2.1 Nutrition, Food Systems and Food Safety:

Key Issues and Approaches across Objectives

FtF Innovation Lab research and activities should incorporate key themes to ensure successful outcomes for both food security and agriculture. These themes should be considered in program design. These include but are not limited to:

• Enhanced availability and uptake of improved technologies and practices:
• Private sector engagement:.
• Leveraging cutting-edge American technology and innovation:
• Mitigation of production risks and vulnerabilities that contribute to humanitarian food security crises:
• Coordination and collaboration with the global agricultural research community,
• Embedding a robust monitoring, evaluation, and learning framework

UCI may submit only two SOIs to this Department of State program.  Therefore, interested applicants should submit (via the UCI Review application system) the following by Tuesday, March 17^th at 11:59pm :

Two-page project summary outlining:

• Issue/Challenge/Opportunity: Briefly describe the problem(s), issue(s), challenge(s), or opportunity(ies) the applicant is seeking to address.
• Proposed Solution/Activities: Describe the approach and core activities to address the issue/challenge/opportunity.
• Anticipated Outcomes and Results: Identify the specific outcomes and results the approach/activities seeks to achieve and define “success.”

• List of Partner Roles and Responsibilities (if applicable): Include a list of proposed applicant partners (private, public, NGO, etc.).

If the Office of Research receives more than 2 applications, an ad hoc committee will then be convened to review the internal applications, and the selected candidates will be notified by Friday, March 20^th.  SOIs are then due to the Department of State on April 3, 2026.

Questions about our internal campus review process may be directed to Director of Research Development, Mike Gallo at magallo@uci.edu .