AgriSpin: Insights into innovation
The AgriSpin project (Space for Innovation in Agriculture) has now been completed, with a closing conference on the Greek island of Crete providing participants with the opportunity to gain insights into methods for creating space for innovation.
Presentations from the event are available on the AgriSpin website, tracing the work of 15 partners from 12 European Union countries. During the project phase, AgriSpin partners “aimed at creating more space for innovations by learning about innovation processes at farm level, collecting best practices of innovation support and, finally, by providing the target groups with recommendations.”
AgriSpin had a particular focus on innovation brokering methods, developing a system of ‘cross visits’ to shed light on the process and sought to answer some important questions: What is innovation? What is an innovation support service (ISS) provider? How can the innovation process be strengthened?
The project noted, for example, that most ISS include ‘network facilitation and brokerage’, ‘knowledge creation, access and exchange’, ‘advisory, consultancy and backstopping’ and, ‘access to resources’. However, project members noted, ISS “remain a case specific issue and no ‘silver bullet’ can be provided to support innovation in agriculture.”
The project has noted the major importance of “clear communication, negotiation, networking and cooperation skills of the various actors in this field” for successful innovation processes and the importance of considering the different phases of innovation processes to ensure “the identification and alignment of services with corresponding innovative practices.”
AgriSpin has identified a number of ways both organisations and individual advisers can strengthen innovation processes, and says the role of funding bodies is crucial “in creating an enabling environment for both service providers and innovators with regards to funding opportunities, management and the general approach towards innovation.”
In addition to the closing event, AgriSpin has provided an innovation training kit for advisers, noting that advisers need to understand the innovation process in order to properly stimulate it. “In other words, they need to know the different stages of the innovation process as well as relevant non-technical success factors. Therefore, their training is key,” it says.
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