The concept of open innovation is currently one of the key issues regarding the innovative development of micro, small, and medium enterprises (SMEs). It has been the subject of research both in the theoretical and empirical context. At present, there is no unambiguous definition conceptualizing the conceptual scope of open innovation (OI). However, enterprises do not always decide by themselves to be open to the environment.
The aim of the study was to provide the examples of eco-innovations in agriculture relating to the concept of sustainable development and the indication of their conditions. Quantitative and qualitative methods were applied to the research, namely: descriptive statistical and economic analysis of the Polish Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data and Statistics Poland data, as well as case studies of organic food producers, covering the years 2005–2019.
Innovations play a significant role in the primary sector (i.e., agriculture, fisheries and forestry), ensuring a greater performance towards bioeconomy and sustainability. Innovation is being progressively applied to examining the organization of joint technological, social, and institutional modernizations in the primary sector. Exploring the governance of actor relations, potential policies, and support structures is crucial in the phase of innovation, e.g., during research activities, often applied at the national or sectorial scale.
The Fiji Islands, like many small Pacific island nations, are thought to incur high rates of postharvest loss. Little work has been undertaken to quantify the amount of loss within Pacific horticultural value chains, or identify the key determinants. This study sought to quantify postharvest loss within Fijian smallholder tomato value chains and to examine the relative importance of current on-farm practices as possible contributors to this loss.
The sustainability of food value chains is an increasing concern for consumers, food companies and policy-makers. Global food chains are often perceived to be less sustainable than local food chains. Yet, thorough food chain analyses and comparisons of different food chains across sustainability dimensions are rare. In this article it is analyzed the local Belgian and global Peruvian asparagus value chains and explore their sustainability performance.
Partnership brokering is needed to work out new ways of organising food systems that treat agricultural smallholders as a resource and opportunity rather than a problem or distraction. This is because food systems are demanding innovation in the way they are organised. This is a matter of transforming stakeholders into partners in order to reconfigure food systems to operate differently, rather than just operate more efficiently. Fundamental systemic changes are needed as our contemporary food system is failing to deliver the food we increasingly demand.
This paper starts describing the importance of agroforestry systems for the increase of productivity, resilience and efficiency. After the papaer describes the current state of agroforestry in Eastern Europe and its challenges and introduces good examples of agroforestry innovation networks initiatives in the region.
The question of how social enterprises foster social innovation in rural regions remains largely unexplored. In this paper, was developed the assumption that the embeddedness of social enterprises in rural communities and their ability to connect rural communities with supra-regional networks and decision makers are crucial preconditions for generating and fostering social innovation in the countryside.
In this paper it is assessed the types of knowledge networks utilised by small-scale farmers in four case studies (located in Bulgaria, Poland, Portugal, and the United Kingdom). We focus on knowledge acquired to inform three new activities being undertaken by study participants: agricultural production, subsidy access and regulatory compliance, and farm diversification (specifically agritourism).
The aim of this paper is to characterise the innovativeness of individual farms in the Łódź region. Based on a domestic and foreign literature study, the most frequently used variables connected with farms (namely, the type of agricultural activity, economic size and VAT settlement system) were selected. The analysis of selected variables that characterise the innovative activity of the researched entities was carried out using the basic measures of structural analysis and interdependence of phenomena.