Abstract Innovation is central to the strategic orientations of many agronomic research institutes. Little attention has been paid, however, to the links between knowledge production and design processes, defined as processes resulting in the creation of new objects in pursuit of specific goals. Our aim was to analyze the conditions and specificities of the production of scientific knowledge on agro-ecosystems through design processes. Drawing on design theory, we carried out a cross-analysis of nine research projects that included design processes and produced innovative objects (for example blending rules for variety mixtures in low-input crop management routes). These projects were managed by researchers from a range of disciplines (agronomists, geneticists, crop physiologists, and ecologists), and varied in their duration (from three to 15 years) and scale (from plot to landscape). We combined semi-structured interviews with these researchers and the analysis of various documents (scientific papers, PhD theses, technical publications, and research projects or reports). Our findings show that in all case studies, original and general scientific knowledge on agro-ecosystem functioning was produced at various stages throughout the design processes. The originality of this knowledge lies with the new representations that emerged, either of the agro-ecosystem processes at stake, or of farmers' practices. We show that these representations were formed gradually, through successive iterations of both refined formulations of the design target and new knowledge produced, required for its design. Finally, our results highlight the role of confrontation with real-life situations (particularly through agronomic diagnosis or experiments) in the evolution of these representations. Engaging in design processes can thus be seen as a research practice that leads to the production of original knowledge, allowing for a greater diversity of actors' ways of knowing to be taken into account.

中文翻译：

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设计作为作物科学科学知识生产更新的源泉

摘要 创新是许多农艺研究机构战略方向的核心。然而，很少有人关注知识生产和设计过程之间的联系，这些过程被定义为为追求特定目标而创造新对象的过程。我们的目标是通过设计过程分析农业生态系统科学知识生产的条件和特性。借鉴设计理论，我们对九个研究项目进行了交叉分析，其中包括设计过程和产生的创新对象（例如低投入作物管理路线中品种混合物的混合规则）。这些项目由来自不同学科的研究人员（农学家、遗传学家、作物生理学家和生态学家）管理，它们的持续时间（从 3 年到 15 年）和规模（从地块到景观）各不相同。我们结合了对这些研究人员的半结构化访谈和对各种文件（科学论文、博士论文、技术出版物和研究项目或报告）的分析。我们的研究结果表明，在所有案例研究中，关于农业生态系统功能的原始和一般科学知识是在整个设计过程的不同阶段产生的。这种知识的独创性在于出现了新的表征，无论是处于危险中的农业生态系统过程，还是农民的实践。我们表明，这些表示是通过设计目标的精炼公式和设计所需的新知识的连续迭代而逐渐形成的。最后，我们的结果强调了与现实生活中的情况（特别是通过农艺诊断或实验）对抗在这些表征的演变中的作用。因此，参与设计过程可以被视为一种研究实践，它导致原始知识的产生，从而考虑到更多不同的参与者的认知方式。