Digital FAO – The Year of Excellence 2023
Annual report of FAO’s digital transformation achievements and digital innovations
Description
Digital FAO – The Year of Excellence highlights FAO’s 2023 achievements in digital innovation and its progress toward becoming a digitally mature organization. The report emphasizes that digital technologies are transforming agrifood systems and reshaping how farmers, governments and institutions access data, manage resources and respond to climate and economic shocks. It provides insights into FAO’s digital ecosystems, including geospatial platforms, digital public goods, climate information systems, farmer registries, animal health intelligence, and mobile-based advisory tools that are accelerating agrifood systems transformation globally.
Technology
The resource details the use of geospatial technologies, remote sensing, drones, mobile applications, IoT sensors, cloud computing, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence. It underscores that these tools increase the accuracy, timeliness and usability of information essential for sustainable agrifood systems, and highlights innovations such as FAO’s geospatial analytics, digital monitoring dashboards, climate early-warning platforms, statistical data engines and digital extension tools deployed at scale across countries.
Target
The resource is relevant to policymakers, national institutions, development partners, researchers, extension officers, private sector innovators, seeking to leverage digital technologies to enhance productivity, resilience, transparency and decision making. It is particularly valuable for institutions aiming to strengthen digital public services, climate risk management, and data governance across agrifood systems. The report has been downloaded 942 times as of December 2025.
Business model
The resource is publicly accessible and free of charge as part of FAO’s global digital transformation portfolio, contributing to knowledge-sharing and capacity development for Member Nations.
Impact
The report documents that FAO delivered more than 200 digital products and solutions across 150 countries, expanded geospatial and statistical services, improved real-time monitoring systems, and strengthened national digital capabilities. The report highlights measurable progress in climate information services, emergency response, biodiversity monitoring, water governance, food security analysis, and farmer-targeted digital advisory systems.
Partners
United Nations
Four Betters
Better production
Better environment
Better life
