The balance of debates about innovation systems ideas in agricultural and rural developmentseems to have shifted from conceptualisation and historical analysis to planning and practice. National and international development agencies are now grappling with the need to rethinktheir investments in line with this new perspective. In this edition the authors suggest 10 priority topics where rethinking isneeded and where there seems to be enough experience to provide advice
RIU is a research and development programme designed to put agricultural research into use for developmental purposes and to conduct research on how to do this. The programme is funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). It follows earlier investments by DFID in agricultural and natural resources research, supported through its renewable natural resources research strategy (RRNRRS). While this strategy delivered high-quality research, the uptake of this research and its impact on social and economic progress was modest.