Options to combine AR and ARD in the

European AKIS

Krijn J. Poppe, LEI Wageningen UR & SCAR AKIS

with thanks to Floor Geerling – Eiff for interviews in WUR

My introduction

Co-chair Strategic Working Group AKIS

(Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation

Systems)

of the EU SCAR (Standing Committee

on Agricultural Research)

Economist and Research Manager at LEI Wageningen UR

My perspective:

• Wageningen UR has always integrated AR and ARD

• I approach the issue from the interests of AR: why

should AR welcome an integration with ARD

Different objectives, methods, and public roles

ERANETsJPIs

Research

Education

Consum

ers

Reta

iler

sFood processo

rsExtensi

on

Input suppliers

Farmers

Member states

Research

Education

Consum

ers

Reta

iler

sFood processo

rsExtensi

on

Input suppliers

Farmers

Member states

ERANETs JPIs

EIP-Agri’sOperational

Groups

Interactive innovation and transdisciplinary research

Large pool of OGs

Many Networks

OperationalGroup

Thematic Network Multi-actor Research Project

Farmers For replication and up-scaling:• End user material• Identify blockades• Research agenda

Transdisciplinary research:Operational Groups as cases and co-innovatorsNGO

Food company

Researcher

SeveralProjects

Focus groups

Policy Brief ARCH and AKIS, 2014

Reasons to revisit the communality between AR and ARD:

1. Both now address global challenges such as climate change, sustainable agricultural production and use of natural resources, food and nutrition security, poverty and social equity and demands for energy.

2. The world has become smaller in recent decades as food systems between the continents are now more integrated by international trade and foreign direct investment.

Opportunities to align research themes

Research themes, like food and nutrition security, climate change, poverty alleviation and many others.

Multi-stakeholder collaboration

Cooperation between countries, regions and continents on common problems like infectious pests and diseases

Methods are often common and can be developed

Research infrastructures (like gene banks, expensive technical equipment or soft infrastructures like databases)

Institutional and governance aspects of research like new forms of public-private partnerships or societal aspects of research

Strategies for aligning funding for research

and innovation

Lessons on alignment and stimulation of innovation can be learned from research projects that have recently been carried out:

● Solinsa project (AR)

● ESFIM (ARD)

● Jolisaa project (ARD)

Build on innovation in practical situations (“innovation in the wild”); Combine local and external knowledge and ideas to enhance innovative capacity; Encourage access to diverse value chains to lower the innovation risks; Support unpredictable innovation processes and Address the multiple dimensions of innovation.

Other remarks in ARCH-AKIS policy brief

Policy makers at national and EU levels should seek for cross-policy collaboration to reduce barriers

New bottom-up models have to be designed and technology has to be adapted

Promote private sector involvement - should be elaborated and diversified.

The added value of European international research and innovation practices must be made explicit.

Policy makers should discuss the desired flexibility in the application of funding mechanisms

Evaluation of research projects should be renewed

New intercontinental innovation partnerships should become part of a policy framework

Reasons to combine AR with ARD:

Grand societal challenges cross borders:

● Common interest

● The best and cheapest solution are notnecessarily in Europe

● Pests and diseases (human, animal, plant) cross borders

Topics for international food chains (e.g. Seeds for West Africa) especially if Europe

● supplies inputs or

● sources products from a developing country

● sees options for new commercialisation (e.g. indeginous plants; “by-products” fromEuropean slaughterhouses for e.g. China)

Reasons to combine AR with ARD: (2)

Developing countries are the economic motors of tomorrow: invest in your market

Topics where there are not much differences in research objective. Example: ICT for family farms (Kenya’s M-Pesa leads in mobile payments)

Topics where variations in cases can help to solve the research questions. Examples: family farming, cooperatives.

Widening of solution space (e.g. new methods forcooling fruits in India can help energy saving in Europe)

International standardisation (reference labs, standardsin ICT)

Last but not least: efficiency

Some topics mentioned in interviews at

Wageningen UR (experience based)

ICT and big data

Water management

Food security

Biobased production and chain development

Climate smart agriculture

Integrated Pest Management - IPM

Sustainable intensification including plant breeding

Small family farms and innovation

Other suggestions from interviews

More collaboration CGIAR and AR-system needed

More policy coherence between DG-DEVCO and DG-RTD (and DG-AGRI) is welcome. Why is Devco’s AR4D agenda not integrated in H2020?

Public-private partnerships are difficult in an intercontinental context (in different cultures multinationals, NGO, (local) sme are hard to bring together) >> how to overcome ? More subsidies for number of global innovation platforms ?

lower transaction costs for research collaboration and exchange

Also Dutch PP-Partnerships need to look more to this issue of integrating AR and ARD

Horizon 2020

Relatively easy – see current call H2020 SC SFS18 on family farming:

● “In line with the objectives of the EU strategy for international cooperation in research and innovation and in particular with the implementation of the EU-Africa dialogue, proposals are encouraged to include third country participants, especially those established in Africa and Asia.´

JPI and ERAnets:

More difficult ?

Already complicated: member states provide capacity in kind, not money.

● Contributes to widening participation

● But inefficient use of resources

● Pooling the money?

● Would lead to a more money driven system

● With more specialisation also based on different labour costs

● Governments have to separate science for solving a common issue and projects for (local) innovation

Thank you for

your attention

krijn.poppe@wur.nl

www.lei.wur.nl

References• Reflection paper AKIS 1• Orientation paper AKIS 2• Summarizing powerpoint

presentation available on SlideShare• ARCH – AKIS Policy Brief, 2014

Innovation is a broad concept

The implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service), or process, a new marketing method, or a new organisational method in business practices, workplace organisation or external relations. [source: OECD]

Also the public sector can innovate ! (and public aspects of agriculture)

Knowledge & Innovation System:

7 functions

1.Knowledge development and diffusion

2.Influence on direction of search and identification of opportunities

3.Entrepreneurial experimentation and management of risk and uncertainty

4.Market formation

5.Resource mobilisation

6.Legitimation

7.Development of positive externalities

(c) M. Hekkert et al.

Innovation by interaction in networks

Innovation as a process has strong learning aspects: learn

how to do new things, bottom-up.

● Alternative: force (or pay for) quality standards, mandates

Thematically-focused learning networks of different actors can

help.

Generating learning and innovation through interactions

between the involved actors.

● participation for all in the planning of work and

experiments, their execution up until the dissemination

of results and the demonstration phase

Members can include farmers, extension workers, food

industry, researchers, government and ngo representatives

and other stakeholders.