TY - JOUR
T1 - Shaking it up
T2 - the realities of ‘doing’ co-innovation in a privatised agricultural advisory and extension system
AU - Paschen, Jana-Axinja
AU - Ayre, Margaret
AU - King, Barbara
AU - Reichelt, Nicole
AU - Nettle, Ruth
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources as part of its Rural R&D for Profit program (2015?2018) as well as cash and in-kind contributions from six agricultural Research and Development Corporations and two Australian state government departments, who were involved in the co-design of the four co-innovation pilots and contributed to the interpretation of findings and their implications for future industry engagement practice with the private agricultural advisory and extension sector. Data collection and the analysis presented here were the sole responsibility of the social research team.
Funding Information:
This project was supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources as part of its Rural R&D for Profit program (2015–2018) as well as cash and in-kind contributions from six agricultural Research and Development Corporations and two Australian state government departments, who were involved in the co-design of the four co-innovation pilots and contributed to the interpretation of findings and their implications for future industry engagement practice with the private agricultural advisory and extension sector. Data collection and the analysis presented here were the sole responsibility of the social research team.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - Pluralistic agricultural advisory systems comprise diverse actors, including public and private research, development, and extension (RD&E) providers, and private sector agricultural advisors. Co-innovation, as a collaborative engagement involving the full range of actors, is regarded as useful when addressing issues arising from this complexity. However, what helps or hinders successful co-innovation with public and private actors in real-world situations is still under-described in the literature. A deeper understanding of the social interactions and practices of doing co-innovation in specific settings is required to achieve successful co-innovation outcomes. This paper asks: What key features of practice support co-innovation with public and private system actors? And: How can enhanced understanding of practice assist in strengthening co-innovation processes? We present findings from research funded by the Australian government from 2015 to 2018 to strengthen private sector extension roles and connections between the RD&E functions in Australia's pluralistic advisory system. Four action research pilots were co-designed with system actors to support co-innovation. These were: Involving agricultural supply chain actors in collaborative agricultural R&D; Increasing farm advisor capacity to engage with digital agricultural technologies; Improving career pathways for new entrants in the advisory and extension sector; and Improving knowledge flows in the advisory and extension system. We found that co-innovation requires potentially profound social change; a shaking up of expectations about roles, responsibilities, and institutionalised processes. The research also suggests that the requirement for social change is underacknowledged in current co-innovation practice, with implications for the success or failure of co-innovation partnerships. Applying a practice theory perspective, our research highlights features of practice that constrained and enabled co-innovation in the four pilots. In doing so, the research provides insights to assist in successful operationalisation of co-innovation involving the private sector in pluralistic agricultural advisory systems.
AB - Pluralistic agricultural advisory systems comprise diverse actors, including public and private research, development, and extension (RD&E) providers, and private sector agricultural advisors. Co-innovation, as a collaborative engagement involving the full range of actors, is regarded as useful when addressing issues arising from this complexity. However, what helps or hinders successful co-innovation with public and private actors in real-world situations is still under-described in the literature. A deeper understanding of the social interactions and practices of doing co-innovation in specific settings is required to achieve successful co-innovation outcomes. This paper asks: What key features of practice support co-innovation with public and private system actors? And: How can enhanced understanding of practice assist in strengthening co-innovation processes? We present findings from research funded by the Australian government from 2015 to 2018 to strengthen private sector extension roles and connections between the RD&E functions in Australia's pluralistic advisory system. Four action research pilots were co-designed with system actors to support co-innovation. These were: Involving agricultural supply chain actors in collaborative agricultural R&D; Increasing farm advisor capacity to engage with digital agricultural technologies; Improving career pathways for new entrants in the advisory and extension sector; and Improving knowledge flows in the advisory and extension system. We found that co-innovation requires potentially profound social change; a shaking up of expectations about roles, responsibilities, and institutionalised processes. The research also suggests that the requirement for social change is underacknowledged in current co-innovation practice, with implications for the success or failure of co-innovation partnerships. Applying a practice theory perspective, our research highlights features of practice that constrained and enabled co-innovation in the four pilots. In doing so, the research provides insights to assist in successful operationalisation of co-innovation involving the private sector in pluralistic agricultural advisory systems.
KW - Co-innovation
KW - Pluralistic advisory systems
KW - Privatised extension
KW - Public-private collaboration
KW - Social practice
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115913788&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.09.003
DO - 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.09.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85115913788
VL - 87
SP - 338
EP - 351
JO - Journal of Rural Studies
JF - Journal of Rural Studies
SN - 0743-0167
ER -
