Strengthening Agricultural Innovation Capacity: Are Innovation Brokers the Answer?

This paper examines the role of innovation brokers in stimulating innovation system interaction and innovation capacity building, and illustrates this by taking the case of Dutch agriculture as an example. Subsequently, it reflects upon the potential role of innovation brokers in developing countries' agriculture. It concludes that innovation brokerage roles are likely to become relevant in emerging economies and that public or donor investment in innovation brokerage may be needed to overcome inherent tensions regarding the neutrality and funding of such players in the innovation system. The Dutch experience suggests that innovation brokers need to be contextually embedded, and are unlikely to become effective through a centrally-imposed design. Hence, we conclude that stimulating their emergence requires a policy that supports institutional learning and experimentation. In the evaluation of such experiments, it is important to note that innovation brokers tend to play intangible roles that are not easily captured through conventional indicators.Agriculture, Developing Countries, The Netherlands, Innovation Broker, Neutrality, Institutional Learning, Context-Specific, Innovation Systems, Capacity Strengthening, Agricultural Extension

Dealing with the game-changing technologies of Agriculture 4.0: how do we manage diversity and responsibility in food system transition pathways?

Agriculture 4.0 is comprised of different already operational or developing technologies such as robotics, nanotechnology, synthetic protein, gene editing technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning, which may have pervasive effects on future agricultural and food systems. In this perspective paper, we argue that more attention is needed for the inclusion and exclusion effects of Agriculture 4.0 technologies, and for reflection on how they relate to diverse transition pathways towards sustainable food systems driven by mission-oriented innovation systems. This would require processes of responsible innovation, anticipating the potential impacts of Agriculture 4.0 through inclusive processes, and reflecting on and being responsive to emerging effects and where needed adjusting the course of transition

Beyond knowledge brokerage: An exploratory study of innovation intermediaries in an evolving smallholder agricultural system in Kenya

The recognition that innovation occurs in networks of heterogeneous actors and requires broad systemic support beyond knowledge brokering has resulted in a changing landscape of the intermediary domain in an increasingly market-driven agricultural sector in developing countries. This paper presents findings of an explorative case study that looked at 22 organisations identified as fulfilling an intermediary role in the Kenyan agricultural sector. The results show that these organisations fulfill functions that are not limited to distribution of knowledge and putting it into use. The functions also include fostering integration and interaction among the diverse actors engaged in innovation networks and working on technological, organisational and institutional innovation. Further, the study identified various organisational arrangements of innovation intermediaries with some organisations fulfilling a specialised innovation brokering role, even as other intermediaries take on brokering as a side activity, while still substantively contributing to the innovation process. Based on these findings we identify a typology of 4 innovation intermediation arrangements, including technology brokers, systemic brokers, enterprise development support and input access support. The results indicate that innovation brokering is a pervasive task in supporting innovation and will require policy support to embed it in innovation support arrangements. The paper is not normative about these arrangements.Smallholder agriculture, innovation intermediaries, agriculture innovation, knowledge brokers, Kenya

Linking action at different levels through innovation platforms

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Good intentions in complex realities: Challenges for designing responsibly in digital agriculture in low-income countries

Human-centred design (HCD) approaches are adopted to develop digital agriculture interventions inclusively and responsibly. Whether these approaches indeed lead to responsible designs remains unclear, especially for low-income countries. Using a Rwandan case-study, we contribute to debates on inclusive, participatory and responsible design by developing a framework for operationalising HCD and responsible innovation in practice and studying the process of designing a digital agriculture intervention for banana disease management. The four dimensions (inclusion, anticipation, reflexivity, responsiveness) of responsible innovation and our own framework of digital rights served as analytical lenses. Findings show that power relations and digital capacity negatively affect user inclusivity in design. The context in which HCD is deployed hinders anticipation, reflexivity and responsiveness, resulting in design decisions that do not fully respect digital rights and thus in potentially irresponsible digital technologies. Broader, long-term consequences of digital technologies should be a central consideration in design processes, while responsible innovation theory needs to become cognizant of the complex realities in which digital innovations emerge

Climate considerations aside: What really matters for farmers in their implementation of climate mitigation measures

The implementation of climate mitigation measures at the farm level is highly dependent on farmers' willingness to make adjustments to their farms. While many studies have identified various barriers to climate mitigation in agriculture – among them farmers’ weak interest in climate – there has been less research focused on the different kinds of influences actually leading to the decisions and acts of implementing relevant measures. Hence, we undertook a qualitative investigation of eight Norwegian farms that have employed a range of such measures. Most importantly, our findings show that climate considerations are not an essential driver among farmers who have implemented relevant measures. Instead, climate mitigation measures are mainly perceived as, treated as, and appreciated for offering (farm-beneficial) functions other than climate change mitigation. Consequently, our study displays an opportunity for diffusion of technology and practices often believed to be curbed by the lack of climate-oriented farmers. Further, our findings point to a range of shared, favourable, contextual conditions (robust farm economy/economies of scale; sufficient time for farming; prospects for farm continuation; relevant subsidy schemes; beneficial climate and topography) enabling the implementation of climate mitigation measures on the involved farms. This reflects the reduced ability of farmers to act in climate-beneficial ways when these conditions are absent or exist with a negative sign. The mutual dependency between intrinsic drivers and enabling contextual conditions underlines the need for both research and development strategies that consider the entire picture. This would include targeting both critical enabling conditions for farmers and the message framing employed to promote climate-beneficial changes at the farm level.Climate considerations aside: What really matters for farmers in their implementation of climate mitigation measurespublishedVersio

Learning and innovation in developing economy clusters: Comparing private and non-profit intermediaries in cluster governance

In this paper we ask what role governance of intermediary organisations plays for enhancing the upgrading of producers in emerging agricultural clusters. This is an important question because the argument is increasingly made that broad multiparty governance can be effective at creating both vertical and horizontal ties and restructuring network relations. We argue that organisational governance matters, but that rather than just focusing on the agency of single organisations, intermediary activities will emerge from the interaction and negotiation between expectations of other actors, the degree of embeddedness of the intermediary in the cluster and the actions of other intermediaries undertaking overlapping roles. Two case studies of emerging clusters in developing country settings are discussed– the mango cluster in Piura, northern Peru and a cluster of palm oil producers in central Colombia, that include organisations with different governance structures

Towards a typology of intermediaries in sustainability transitions: a systematic review and a research agenda

Intermediary actors have been proposed as key catalysts that speed up change towards more sustainable socio-technical systems. Research on this topic has gradually gained traction since 2009, but has been complicated by the inconsistency regarding what intermediaries are in the context of such transitions and which activities they focus on, or should focus on. We briefly elaborate on the conceptual foundations of the studies of intermediaries in transitions, and how intermediaries have been connected to different transition theories. This shows the divergence – and sometimes a lack – of conceptual foundations in this research. In terms of transitions theories, many studies connect to the multi-level perspective and strategic niche management, while intermediaries in technological innovation systems and transition management have been much less explored. We aim to bring more clarity to the topic of intermediaries in transitions by providing a definition of transition intermediaries and a typology of five intermediary types that is sensitive to the emergence, neutrality and goals of intermediary actors as well as their context and level of action. Some intermediaries are specifically set up to facilitate transitions, while others grow into the role during the process of socio-technical change. Based on the study, as an important consideration for future innovation governance, we argue that systemic and niche intermediaries are the most crucial forms of intermediary actors in transitions, but they need to be complemented by a full ecology of intermediaries, including regime-based transition intermediaries, process intermediaries and user intermediaries

Unpacking the Precision Technologies for Adaptation of the Chilean Dairy Sector. A Structural-functional Innovation System Analysis.

Precision technologies and smart farming practices are spreading globally. However, there are still limited insights into how these technologies develop in newly adopted countries and adapt to different local systems, especially in emergent economies. This article aims to diagnose the technological innovation system of precision technologies within Chile's dairy sector, focusing on the possibilities of development and co-evolution. A structural-functional innovation system analysis is performed, based upon 41 semi-structured interviews. The main results indicate that precision technologies are in the implementation phase in the Chilean dairy sector, with scarce experience and undeveloped knowledge of their benefits. Moreover, there are insufficient interactions between different actors with limited information sharing due to the lack of trust as a cultural issue, affecting the development of smart farming practices. Some strategies to develop and co-evolve the technological systems are discussed, as is the need to increase trust and cooperation between the actors of the dairy sector