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A new class of entrepreneurs, often operating below the market and policy radar, is pioneering new, disruptive modes of innovation that address the social and environmental concerns that public policy is currently struggling to deal with. In the June 2010 edition of LINK LOOK Andy Hall argues that an emphasis on the private sector in innovation systems thinking — and an assumption that this means companies — has obscured the importance of other forms of entrepreneurship. Many of these have a long history in development practice. Perhaps it is time to look below the radar and support the entrepreneurship we find there. |
NEW DISCUSSION PAPERS FROM LINK LINK is pleased to announce the publication of new discussion papers, available for download from the UNU-MERIT website. The first, titled “Research Into Use: Investigating the Relationship between Agricultural Research and Innovation”, by Andy Hall, Jeroen Dijkman and Rasheed Sulaiman V., sets out an analytical framework for doing research on the question of how to use agricultural research for innovation and impact. It focuses on the Research Into Use (RIU) programme, sponsored by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), which is a new type of international development programme that seeks to find better ways of using research for development purposes. The framework developed in the paper is used to frame questions that will help RIU in its quest to provide practical policy with selection guidance in choosing the right sort of innovation support strategies for particular requirements of different niches at different points in the innovation trajectory. A full version of this paper is available for download at http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2010/wp2010-044.pdf. The second, titled “Bottom-up, Bottom-line: Development-Relevant Enterprises in East Africa and their Significance for Agricultural Innovation”, is authored by Andy Hall, Norman Clark and Andy Frost. Over the last 10 years much has been written about the role of the private sector as part of a more widely-conceived notion of agricultural sector capacity for innovation and development. This paper discusses the emergence of a new class of private enterprise in East Africa, which would seem to have an important role in efforts to tackle poverty reduction and food security. These organizations appear to occupy a niche that sits between mainstream for-profit enterprises and the developmental activities of government programmes, NGOs and development projects. The paper discusses the RIU programme’s experiences with these ‘development-relevant enterprises’ and suggests that supporting this type of entrepreneurial activity may form the basis of a new mode of development assistance aimed at using innovation for both social and economic purposes. A full version of this paper is available for download at http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2010/wp2010-042.pdf. The third, titled “Assessing Innovations in International Research and Development Practice”, is authored by Laxmi Prasad Pant. Enhancing impacts of international development interventions has become a central issue in the 21st century. Conventional M&E tools either focus on efficiency or strive to demonstrate a logical progression from specific actors and factors of an intervention to development impact. However, in complex adaptive systems there is neither a linear results chain nor can impacts be unambiguously attributed to an actor or factor. Based on case studies of a series of projects under DFID’s RNRRS strategy, this paper develops a social innovation assessment tool. A full version of this paper is available for download at http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2010/wp2010-043.pdf. Three new discussion papers by Lina Sonne, based on field work conducted during her time at LINK’s Hyderabad hub, are also available for download from the UNU-MERIT site. The papers are titled “India’s Rural Financial System: Does it Support Pro-Poor Innovation” (http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2010/wp2010-039.pdf), “Financing Pro-Poor Entrepreneur-Based Innovation: A Review of Existing Literature” (http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2010/wp2010-038.pdf) and Pro-Poor Entrepreneurship-Based Innovation and its Role in Rural Development (http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2010/wp2010-037.pdf). EC SEMINAR ON INNOVATION LINK coordinator Andy Hall presented the key features of an innovation systems approach — as well as the policy implications of such an approach — at a seminar on Agriculture and Rural Development in Brussels on November 9-13 for delivery to European Commission staff. According to Andy, the contemporary understanding of innovation — as neither research nor invention but as a social process of learning and acquiring knowledge and putting it into socially and economically productive use — offers new insights into ways of accelerating agricultural development, shifting policy attention to a much broader arena of activities, processes and capacities involved in innovation. Organised by ITAD, the seminar was part of the EC’s Methodological Support and Training in Aid Delivery Methods (MSTADM) programme. Participants included officials from delegations in Brussels working with the rural poor, agricultural sectors, economic development, agro-industries and agricultural development policies. LESSONS FROM THE FODDER PROJECT LINK South Asia coordinator Rasheed Sulaiman V. and ILRI scientist Ranjitha Puskur presented experiences and lessons from the joint LINK-ILRI Fodder Innovation Project (FIP) during an IFAD-Fodder Adoption Project (FAP) coordination meeting organised in Vietnam on November 17-19, 2009. The FIP is being implemented in India and Nigeria and more details are available on the project website at www.fodderinnovation.org. ILRI, in collaboration with the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), is implementing the IFAD-funded project “Enhancing livelihoods of Poor Livestock Keepers through Increased Use of Fodder” and organised the coordination meeting to share experiences. IAALD FEATURES FODDER PROJECT In a recent interview with the International Association of Agriculture Information Specialists (IAALD), Ranjitha Puskur of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) shared some lessons emerging from the LINK-ILRI Fodder Innovation Project in India and Nigeria. According to Ranjitha, the project, which is funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), aims to “form and facilitate a network of different actors in a chain or continuum of knowledge production and its use, mobilising all their various resources and capacities to address a problem”. However, as she emphasises, “getting a network of actors isn’t an easy process; it takes time.” Different organisations with different interests and motives have to be brought around the table to contribute and benefit. “It needs great facilitation skills and negotiating skills, which are not very often core competencies of researchers like us.” For more on the interview, visit http://ilri.blip.tv/file/2922907/. For more on the Fodder Innovation Project visit www.fodderinnovation.org.
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LINK works in collaboration with the following partner organisations-
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