CONTEXT

Current research emphasises that agricultural innovation projects are influenced in multiple ways by the Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) in which they operate. Yet little attention has been paid to the reverse direction of this relationship, i.e. how agricultural innovation projects affect AIS in the course of their innovative activities. Accordingly, there are currently no tools to measure such AIS spillovers from agricultural innovation projects.

OBJECTIVE

This paper shows that even where agricultural innovation projects have not been designed with the explicit aim of influencing AIS they can have spillovers on the AIS in which they operate. Based on this finding, it argues that designing agricultural innovation projects in a way that maximises such positive and reduces negative AIS spillovers would be a useful tool for strengthening agricultural innovation capacities in a particular territory or sector.

METHODS

Based on the concept of agricultural innovation projects as Organisational Innovation Systems (OIS) that are embedded in AIS, the paper develops an analytical framework for assessing spillovers of such projects on AIS and applies it to a case study of an Operational Group in the German Federal State of Hessen.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

The case study shows that agricultural innovation projects may yield diverse spillovers on the AIS in which they operate. In addition to considering how agricultural innovation projects are shaped – constrained and/or enabled – by AIS, the research community on agricultural innovation should pay more attention to this side of the interrelation of AIS and agricultural innovation projects. Designing agricultural innovation projects responsibly so that spillovers on AIS are monitored can help to improve national or sectoral AIS.

SIGNIFICANCE

This paper points to an underexplored issue in research on agricultural innovation and, related to this, a thus far unused potential policy tool for improving national and sectoral AIS. It further develops the concept of innovation projects as OIS into an approach for assessing the effects of projects on AIS; an area of project assessment that until now has not been adequately covered.

中文翻译：

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自下而上建设农业创新能力：利用项目的溢出效应加强农业创新体系

语境

目前的研究强调，农业创新项目会以多种方式受到其运作的农业创新系统 (AIS) 的影响。然而很少有人关注这种关系的反方向，即农业创新项目如何在其创新活动过程中影响 AIS。因此，目前没有工具可以衡量农业创新项目的此类 AIS 溢出效应。

客观的

本文表明，即使在设计农业创新项目时并未明确以影响 AIS 为目标，它们也可能对其运营所在的 AIS 产生溢出效应。基于这一发现，它认为，以最大化这种积极的 AIS 溢出效应并减少负面的 AIS 溢出效应的方式设计农业创新项目将是加强特定地区或部门农业创新能力的有用工具。

方法

基于农业创新项目作为嵌入 AIS 的组织创新系统 (OIS) 的概念，本文开发了一个分析框架，用于评估此类项目对 AIS 的溢出效应，并将其应用于德国联邦运营小组的案例研究黑森州。

结果和结论

案例研究表明，农业创新项目可能会对其运营所在的 AIS 产生不同的溢出效应。除了考虑 AIS 如何塑造（限制和/或启用）农业创新项目外，农业创新研究界还应更加关注 AIS 与农业创新项目相互关系的这一方面。负责任地设计农业创新项目以便监测 AIS 的溢出效应有助于改善国家或部门的 AIS。

意义

本文指出了农业创新研究中一个未充分探索的问题，以及与此相关的迄今为止尚未使用的改善国家和部门 AIS 的潜在政策工具。它将创新项目作为 OIS 的概念进一步发展为评估项目对 AIS 影响的方法；迄今为止尚未充分涵盖的项目评估领域。