ABSTRACT

Purpose

Networks and partnerships are commonly-used tools to foster knowledge sharing between actors and organisations in the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS), but in Europe the policy emphasis on including users, such as farmers and foresters, is relatively recent. This paper assesses user involvement in a diverse set of European Union (EU)-funded and non-EU (formal and informal) multi-actor partnerships.

Design/methodology/approach

A review of 200 projects and other partnerships including farmers and foresters, drawn from an integrated database of several thousand such examples, assessed the types of innovation challenges tackled, solutions proposed, innovation supported, parameters of actor participation and the expectations of success in each example.

Findings

All the reviewed policy instruments, not just those funded in the frame of the EIP-AGRI, can be used to involve users in co-innovation in agriculture, forestry and related value chains.

Practical implications

The EIP-AGRI is just one part of a complex matrix of multi-actor co-innovation activities involving farmers and foresters in Europe. Interlinking of innovation programmes and more effective targeting of these programmes at groups of actors, especially users, who are currently not sufficiently engaged are worthy aspirations.

Theoretical implications

Any analysis of co-innovation involving users must recognise the existence of a multiplicity (projects, non-project activities, formal and informal) of multi-actor approaches.

Originality/value

This research used a common methodology to review several forms of multi-actor partnerships involving users and other actors. Our data suggest that many of these are effective methods of supporting co-innovation and are, therefore, ‘sharing the space’ within the AKIS.

中文翻译：

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农业知识和创新系统中的“共享空间”：与欧洲农民和林农的多方创新伙伴关系

摘要

目的

网络和伙伴关系是促进农业知识和创新系统 (AKIS) 中参与者和组织之间知识共享的常用工具，但在欧洲，政策强调包括农民和林农等用户的政策相对较新。本文评估了用户参与各种欧盟 (EU) 资助和非欧盟（正式和非正式）多方合作伙伴关系。

设计/方法/方法

对 200 个项目和包括农民和林农在内的其他伙伴关系进行了审查，这些伙伴关系来自包含数千个此类示例的综合数据库，评估了所应对的创新挑战类型、提出的解决方案、支持的创新、参与者参与的参数以及每个示例中成功的期望.

发现

所有经过审查的政策工具，不仅仅是那些在 EIP-AGRI 框架内资助的工具，都可以用来让用户参与农业、林业和相关价值链的联合创新。

实际影响

EIP-AGRI 只是欧洲农民和林农参与的多方联合创新活动复杂矩阵的一部分。将创新计划相互联系，并更有效地将这些计划瞄准当前参与不足的行为者群体，尤其是用户，是值得期待的。

理论意义

任何涉及用户的联合创新分析都必须承认多参与者方法的多样性（项目、非项目活动、正式和非正式）的存在。

原创性/价值

这项研究使用了一种通用方法来审查涉及用户和其他参与者的多种形式的多参与者伙伴关系。我们的数据表明，其中许多是支持联合创新的有效方法，因此在 AKIS 内“共享空间”。