Files
Abstract
Innovation systems perspectives on agricultural research and technological
change are fast becoming a popular approach to the study of how society generates,
disseminates, and utilizes knowledge. The innovation systems literature represents a
significant change from the conventional, linear approach to research and development
by providing an analytical framework that explores complex relationships among
heterogeneous agents, social and economic institutions, and endogenously determined
technological and institutional opportunities. Recent empirical work extends the
innovation systems approach from studies of national innovation systems in
industrialized-country manufacturing to developing-country agriculture, and shifts the
emphasis from a unidirectional technology transfer approach to a more complex, process-based
systems approach. This shift in perspective is appropriate for the study of
developing-country agriculture because it captures the intricate relationships between
diverse actors, processes of institutional learning and change, market and nonmarket
institutions, public policy, poverty reduction, and socioeconomic development.
Early applications of the innovation systems framework to developing-country
agriculture suggest opportunities for more intensive and extensive analysis. There is
ample scope for empirical studies to make greater use of the theoretical content available
in the literature, and to employ more diverse methodologies, both qualitative and
quantitative. Further, there is room to improve the relevance of empirical studies to the
analysis of public policies that support science, technology, and innovation, as well as to policies that promote poverty reduction and economic growth. This paper attempts to
examine these issues with respect to recent applications of the innovation systems
framework to developing-country agriculture, and suggests several ways to strengthen the
mode of inquiry and quality of analysis.
The paper begins by tracing the literature on innovation systems from its roots in
evolutionary economics and systems theory, followed by a review of recent applications
to developing-country agriculture. This discussion is followed by the presentation of a
model of an innovation system derived from a series of game theoretic and population
game models in which heterogeneous agents interact and evolve through strategic
patterns of behavior. The paper then reviews the strengths and weaknesses of recent
applied work in developing-country agriculture and concludes with recommendations for
improving analytical strength, relevance to public policy, and relevance to poverty
reduction.