Working methodologically on system innovations

Dutch agriculture is facing the challenge to develop into a sustainable sector. To achieve this goal, innovations are needed which force breaks with past trends and speed up the tempo of sustainable development. The System Innovation Programmes developed by Wageningen UR contribute with new, future-oriented business concepts and integral strategies for sustainable agriculture. This is realized using various systematic approaches, which can be implemented either individually or in conjunction with one another

'Innovaties realiseer je met koplopers'

Het overdragen van kennis gebeurt al lang niet meer met boekjes en voorlichters. Wageningen UR bouwt aan netwerken en zet gedurfde innovatieprojecten op om ondernemers te bereiken. ‘Wij hebben geconcludeerd dat we voor het realiseren van innovaties moeten samenwerken met de koplopers. Het peloton volgt later.

The survival of the ‘Anti-Party Party Paradox’: Evidence from the Five Stars Movement

As of June 1, 2018, Italy is governed by two populist factions: the Five Stars Movement (5SM) and the League. The former, being an anti-party party, has become the first political force in only nine years of existence by advocating for a desired change of Italian politics. The latter is instead an extreme-right wing populist faction that has previously ruled with Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party and was heavily involved in corruption scandals. At first sight, this governmental coalition seems antithetical with the proclaimed purity and difference of the 5SM from its ordinary political competitors. What is more, not only the 5SM has recently adopted internal rules which resemble those of established parties, but it has also performed behaviours which are in sharp contradiction with its ideology and values. In light of this contrast, this paper extends Cas Mudde’s (1996) anti-party party paradox to the 5SM by examining how anti-party parties behave in power with other populist factions. It adopts party routinisation theory to analyse how changes of internal organisation within the movement have effectively translated into external behaviours which are ‘party-like’. What emerges is that the Five Stars Movement, despite governing with another populist faction, has become internally and externally routinised as a normal party in the necessary limitations of the Italian political reality. As such, the anti-party party paradox survives even when compromise is achieved at the national level with another populist party

Methodisch werken aan systeeminnovaties

Bij de opgave van de Nederlandse landbouw om zich te ontwikkelen tot een duurzame sector, is het zoeken naar vernieuwingen die een trendbreuk teweegbrengen en het tempo van duurzame ontwikkeling versnellen. De Systeeminnovatieprogramma’s dragen hieraan in vele projecten bij door nieuwe, toekomstgerichte bedrijfsconcepten en integrale strategieën voor duurzame landbouw te ontwikkelen. Daarbij worden diverse methodische aanpakken gehanteerd die individueel of in samenhang met elkaar ingezet kunnen worden: inspireren, agenderen, innoveren, verbinden, stimuleren en verbrede

De waarde van monitoring en evaluatie

Alleen door ingrijpende vernieuwingen kan de landbouw echt verduurzamen. Innovatie-experimenten leveren daar een belangrijke bijdrage aan. Maar is de bijdrage aan het veranderingsproces wel te meten, en hoe en wat meet je dan? En is het mogelijk leerinstrumenten te ontwikkelen die het succes van projecten vergroten? In dit artikel wordt ingegaan op de betekenis van monitoring en evaluatie in innovatie-experimenten

De bijdrage van technologie aan systeeminnovaties

Technologische vernieuwingen leveren een essentiële bijdrage aan de verduurzaming van de agrarische sector. Maar hoe is die bijdrage vanuit de techniek aan systeemverandering te karakteriseren? En hoe kunnen we met technologie het innovatieproces sturen en versnellen

Bench heating for potplant cultivation : analysis of effects of root- and air temperature on growth, development and production

This thesis deals with the application of bench heating systems for potplant cultivation, which were developed for application of low temperature heating water from flue gas condensers and external waste heat sources. Compared to the traditional way of heating, a 'reversed' temperature gradient is created on heated benches, with a high root-zone temperature compared to the air temperature. Knowledge of root-zone temperature requirements and - tolerances is necessary in order to fully exploit the potentials of bench heating systems.The influence of bench heating on microclimate was established for an aluminium bench heating system, which was mainly used in this study. It provided a uniform horizontal temperature distribution, and a rather constant vertical temperature gradient up to 45 cm crop height. Humidity did not detoriate with increasing root-zone temperatures.Growth and flowering of Saintpaulia were enhanced by increased root-zone temperature (23-26°C). Flowering of Begonia showed narrow tolerances for the air temperature, whereas the root-zone temperature was of minor importance in the range 18- 26°C. Elevated root-zone (19-30°C) and/or air temperatures (19-24°C) affected growth rate of Ficusbenjamina and Schefflera positively during the first three weeks of growth, but in later stages of growth no effect of root temperature could be detected. Flowering and growth of Spathiphyllum were largely influenced by the air temperature, whereas root-zone temperature was of less importance for flowering in the range 20-26°C. Increasing root-zone (19-26°C) and air temperatures (19-22°C) promoted flowering of Guzmania with out negative effects on size of inflorescences. Plant quality and keepability were not unfavourably affected in the crops under investigation. For Saintpaulia and Spathiphyllum, the number of lateral shoots was reduced at increased root temperatures.Response patterns of plant processes affected by root temperature were analysed with respect to optimal range and tolerances. There is no evidence that water and nutrient uptake were limiting growth of most potplants in the investigated root temperature range. Growth was influenced more by the air temperature than the root-zone temperature. The growth response of Saintpaulia was an exception, where a lower plant dry matter percentage was observed at increased root-zone temperature (resulting in increased plant fresh weight), which might have been due to a reduced resistance for water uptake at these temperatures. Effects of the root temperature were most pronounced on development processes (flowering, shoot formation). For crops with a shoot meristern situated close to the root-zone, effects of increased root-zone temperature on earliness of flowering were most likely due to the locally increased temperature of the shoot apex. Consequences for the use of bench heating systems in commercial practice are discussed with respect to bench construction, climate control, crop management and economical perspectives