Modeling transdisciplinary cooperation in the agriculture sector for European Innovation Partnerships (original) (raw)
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In this paper we investigate the organisation and functioning of the formal AKS and how it can support or inhibit innovative bottom-up approaches to knowledge co-creation and social/joint learning. We have investigated how the main actors interact within their respective innovation systems and how they are influenced by various institutional characteristics. Using an Innovation System matrix the main enablers and barriers with regard to collective action have been categorized. The paper presents a comparative analysis of the different types of Agricultural Knowledge Systems within eight different European countries (England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands and Switzerland). Results show how the knowledge infrastructure, existing rules and regulations, network structures, innovation capabilities and market structures differ from country to country. And how these institutional determinants can both support or inhibit joint learning and bottom-up innovation pro...
Purpose: We investigate how the structural conditions of eight different European agricultural innovation systems can facilitate or hinder collaboration and social learning in multidisciplinary innovation networks. Methodology: We have adapted the Innovation System Failure Matrix to investigate the main barriers and enablers eight countries (England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, The Netherlands and Switzerland). Findings: Results show some of the recent trends the AKS actors in these countries have experienced and how these have affected their potential to act as collaborators in multidisciplinary innovation networks. Lack of funds, combined with horizontal and vertical fragmentation and the lack of proper evaluation criteria for collaborative innovation networks are among the most important threats we found. Practical Implications: This study shows that each national AIS has some unique features. This means that the implementation of policies promoting collaboration and social learning (e.g. the European Innovation Partnerships and Operational Groups) should depend on a critical reflection of the existing structural elements of the AIS in each country and whether there is a need for inclusion of new actors, or whether certain innovations for collective goods should be promoted. Originality: The paper contributes to the ongoing discussion in the scientific literature on the advantages and disadvantages of privatization of extension and advisory services and the shift from thinking in terms of the traditional Agricultural Knowledge System towards a broader Agricultural Innovation System.
European Innovation Partnership As a Framework for Open Innovation in Agriculture
2014
Contemporarily, agriculture is facing many challenges connected with growing food demand and scarcity of natural resources. In meeting these challenges innovation has become of crucial importance. The paper aims at providing an insight on the topic of the needs and possibilities of open innovation and its significance for the transition towards sustainable and more productive agriculture of EU. We argue that given the complexity of innovation process there emerges the need for effective interactions between all actors of agriculture sector. We conclude that new instrument of EU policy: European Innovation Partnership, which promotes open innovation approach should facilitate emergence of networks of collaboration in agriculture. Such an approach will stimulate innovation processes and will help to give better responses to contemporary challenges faced by agriculture.
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It is acknowledged that innovations in agriculture and rural development need to be adequately fostered. Within a system approach applied to this matter, the role of people and organizations able to catalyze innovation through bringing together of actors and facilitating their interaction is growing in relevance. In such a model the intermediaries are assumed to play a key role in developing social impact and sustainability outcomes for regional rural development. In this perspective, the European Innovation Partnership for agricultural productivity and sustainability (EIP-AGRI), which can be perceived as a platform based on interaction among farmers, researchers, and advisors/extensionists, represents a useful tool for a better understanding of applied innovation processes. Grounded in the activities performed within the EU Project Agrispin, in this paper we attempt to contribute to the identification of effective and efficient approaches for the implementation of the EIP-AGRI stra...
The Role of the Innovation Broker in the Formation of Eip-Agri Operational Groups
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The European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI) is part of the support for agricultural economic development. EIP-AGRI operational groups are groups of people who are working together on an innovation project funded by Rural Development Programs (RDP). Their essence is to transform innovative ideas into real solutions. The coordination of the formation process of operational groups has been entrusted to agricultural advisory units, especially to innovation brokers working there. The aim of the study was to determine the role of the innovation broker in the formation of EIP-AGRI operational groups. Mechanisms of innovation support in the agricultural sector were presented, paying particular attention to the tasks of the National Network for Innovation in Agriculture and Rural Areas (NRN) and the Measure “Cooperation” implemented under RDP 2014-2020. The “e-Networking” operation implemented by the Pomeranian Agricultural Advisory Centre ...
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