Pour faire face à l'augmentation de la population, l'agriculture devra améliorer sa productivité. L'innovation est donc un processus nécessaire. Le progrès technique en représente une part importante, mais ne peut suffire sans une démarche multi-acteurs participative. Les plateformes d'innovation peuvent ainsi favoriser cette démarche de manière pérenne.
A growing variety of public and private rural advisory services are available today, leading to increasingly pluralistic service systems (PSS) – in which advisory services are provided by different actors and funded from different sources. PSS have emerged in many countries as a response to a decline in public sector extension and the increasing demand for tailored, diverse and market-oriented services. Private companies, non-governmental organizations and producer organizations, today play more active roles alongside traditional public sector providers.