This thematic note discusses the role of innovation brokers in bridging communication gaps between various actors of innovation systems. On the basis of recent experience in the Netherlands, it outlines the success of brokers in finding solutions adapted to the needs of farmers and industry, and thus their positive impact on innovation adoption. This section also examines some issues on how brokers function, particularly with regard to balancing interests, funding their activities, and the role of government.

This paper addresses questions over the function and institutional arrangements of climate finance from an innovation systems perspective. It examines the barriers that prevent developing countries from transitioning to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies, and the interventions necessary to overcome those barriers. It finds that the barriers to innovation and economic change are much more pervasive than a lack of incentives.

This policy brief deals with the following points: (i) Given the importance of agriculture and the rural medium for countries’ growth and development, policy makers must strengthen the institutional structure of rural extension and increase public and private investment; (ii) Abundant natural resources, knowledge, technology, and extensionists are not enough.

Social structure, especially in the form of social networks, affects the adoption of agricultural technologies. In light of an increasing focus on new demand-driven agricultural extension approaches that leverage social networks as an opportunity, too little is known about (a) which network characteristics matter? and (b) how do specific network characteristics matter? This paper investigates the impact of social networks in relation to smallholder dairy production technology adoption in Ethiopia.

The slow rate of agricultural development in Africa can largely be blamed on lack of functional relationships between technology/innovation generation centers, local farming communities, financial institutions and markets. The result has been low penetration of promising innovations/technologies thus, low adoption levels and/ or partial adoption; and limited or no access to markets and financial services by farmers. In general, most of the innovation/technologies developed have not been extensively out-scaled; some of which are not even packaged in user friendly formats.

In this paper the authors used a network perspective to study the micro level of agricultural innovation systems and investigate the different roles and functions that collaborating actors have to perform to spread their innovation both horizontally and vertically. Based on a literature review, we distinguish between three separate network functions: (1) learning and knowledge co-creation, (2) upscaling and institutional entrepreneurship and (3) outscaling and innovation brokerage.

This paper looks at two aspects of institutional development in a university setting. It looks at how the design of South – North collaboration may have a bearing on the type of partnership that evolves. And it addresses the issue of how institutional commitment influences the depth and intensity of change processes.

The new challenges facing the European agricultural and rural sectors call for a review of the links between knowledge production and its use to foster innovation, and for a deeper analysis of the potential of the current Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) to react to the evolving context. This paper highlights how the Italian AKIS places itself in the new emerging framework, with a particular emphasis on the incentives guiding the system and the experiences of monitoring and evaluating the national AKIS policy.

The Agribusiness Innovation Initiative (AII) seeks to contribute to advancing a climate-smart competitive agribusiness sector which will create more jobs and raise incomes for Ethiopians. The AII will contribute toward this objective by identifying innovative growth-oriented entrepreneurs who are pursuing business opportunities based on value addition of agricultural commodities and providing them with a holistic service offering that accelerates their growth and increases their sustainability.