The Centre for Research on Innovation and Science Policy is a non-profit research organization established in March 2004 to promote research in the area of innovation policy in relation to agriculture and rural development. The founding members of CRISP have been in the forefront of research on innovation policy internationally. This coalition of science policy researchers saw a need for a more holistic approach to innovation policy and CRISP was established mainly to promote policy relevant research on rural innovation.
CRISP is partner in the LINK Initiative (www.innovationstudies.org). LINK seeks to stimulate debate and share lessons on rural innovation policy and practice through research and advisory services.
| LINKING RESEARCH TO POLICY |
Beijing Roundtable 2012 on Agricultural Extension in Asia
 The Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences jointly organized a roundtable at Beijing during 15-17 March 2012 to discuss what has and what has not worked in agricultural extension, and to foster learning from the experience of four countries: China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. The Roundtable provided a platform to share experiences across countries and brought together senior experts and stakeholders from the four countries and international specialists for a structured discussion supported by specific background papers. CRISP participated in this Roundtable and contributed the background paper from India. Click here to view the presentations and read the roundtable papers. Click here. |
"Effective Delivery of Livestock Services"
 Effective delivery of livestock services depend to a large extent on the number and quality of technical manpower available in a region. CRISP partnered with the Rajiv Gandhi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (RAGACOVAS), Pondicherry in organising a Regional Workshop on the availability of manpower and their capacities to deal with the contemporary and future challenges faced by the livestock sector.
The specific objectives of this workshop held on 4-5 September 2011 were as follows:
- How to reduce the gap between the availability and requirement of technical man power in the veterinary colleges and departments of AH?
- How to improve the capacity of technical manpower to face the present and future challenges of the livestock development?
- How to improve the effective delivery of livestock services to the livestock owners?
The participants deliberated on these aspects and developed an action plan to strengthen delivery of livestock services in the region. Click here for more details on the workshop and the action plan.
Click here to download this document. |
"Reclaiming Research in Livestock Development"
Promotion of new knowledge often requires changes in institutions and policies. This would necessitate engagement with actors in the policy arena.
 Rajiv Gandhi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (RAGACOVAS), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Centre for Research on Innovation and Science Policy (CRISP) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) have embarked on a multi-stakeholder dialogue on ‘Reclaiming Research in Livestock Development through Policy Interventions’ on 26-27 April, 2011,This publication is
a result of this initiative, bringing together the proceedings and recommendations of the workshop with 12 innovations in livestock development with Direct implications for policy.
Click here to download this document.
Creation of an enabling environment for upscaling new knowledge requires long term engagement with policy and CRISP will continue to engage in this process not only to influence policies but also to learn about new and creative ways of engaging with the policy process.
DISCUSSION PAPERS
"Missing the target: Lessons from enabling innovation in South Asia"
(By Rasheed Sulaiman V. , Andy Hall and T.S. Vamsidhar Reddy)
Abstract
This paper reflects on the experience of the Research Into Use (RIU) projects in Asia. It reconfirms much of what has been known for many years about the way innovation takes place and finds that many of the shortcomings of RIU in Asia were precisely because lessons from previous research on agricultural innovation were "not put into use" in the programme's implementation. However, the experience provides three important lessons for donors and governments to make use of agricultural research:
- Promoting research into use requires enabling innovation. This goes
beyond fostering collaboration, and includes a range of other innovation management tasks
- The starting point for making use of research need not necessarily be the promising research products and quite often identifying the promising innovation trajectories is more rewarding
- Strengthening the innovation enabling environment of policies and institutions is critical if research use is to lead to long-term and large-scale impacts. It is in respect of this third point that RIU Asia missed its target, as it failed to make explicit efforts to address policy and institutional change,
despite its innovation systems rhetoric. This severely restricted its ability to achieve wide-scale social and economic impact that was the original rationale for the programme.
“Necessary but not sufficient: Information and communication technology and its role in putting research into use",
authored by Rasheed Sulaiman V, Andy Hall, N J Kalaivani, Kumuda Dorai and T S Vamsidhar Reddy
Abstract
This is the first of two linked papers dealing with information and computing technology (ICTs) and the question of putting research into use. This, the first paper, takes the experience of South Asia to review the scope of ICT applications in development practice as a tool for putting research into use for innovation. The findings from this study suggest that ICTs in general have not contributed effectively to the challenge of putting new knowledge into use as they are mostly used to support traditional communication tasks — such as information dissemination and training. The paper argues that this under‐utilisation of the potential of ICTs could be due to: a lack of appreciation of the new communication‐intermediation tasks required for innovation, underestimation of the roles of intermediaries and their capacities for innovation and lack of networks needed for communities to make use of the information provided through ICTs. Although the understanding on communication, innovation and extension has changed substantially in the past two decades, there is still a big gap between theory and practice. This paper contends that this gap needs to be bridged if ICTs are to effectively contribute to putting new knowledge into use.
Click here to download
" The when and where of research in agricultural innovation trajectories:Evidence and implications from RIU's South Asia projects",
authored by Vamsidhar Reddy, T.S., Andy Hall and Rasheed Sulaiman V.
Abstract
The question of how agricultural research can best be used for developmental purposes is atopic of some debate in developmental circles. The idea that this is simply a question of bettertransfer of ideas from research to farmers has been largely discredited. Agricultural innovation is a process that takes a multitude of different forms, and, within this process, agricultural research and expertise are mobilised at different points in time for different purposes. This paper uses two key analytical principles in order to find how research is actually put into use. The first, which concerns the configurations of organisations and their relationships associated with innovation, reveals the additional set of resources and expertise that research needs to be married up to and sheds light on the sorts of arrangements that allow this marriage to take place. The second — which concerns understanding innovation as a path-dependent, contextually shaped trajectory unfolding over time — reveals the changing role of research during the course of events associated with the development and diffusion of products, services and institutional innovations. Using these analytical principles, this paper examines the efforts of the DFID-funded Research Into Use (RIU) programme that sought to explore the agricultural research-into-use question empirically. The paper then uses this analysis to derive implications for public policy and its ongoing efforts to add value to
research investments.
Click here to download
“ICTs and Empowerment of Indian Rural Women: What can we learn from on-going initiatives",
authored by Rasheed Sulaiman V, N. J Kalaivani, Nimisha Mittal and P Ramsundaram explores the role of ICTs in empowering Indian rural women, through a review of ICT initiatives in India
Abstract
There has been a lot of interest during the last two decades in employing Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for achieving development. While many of these initiatives have benefited rural women by way of access to new information and new employment opportunities, women still face a number of constraints in accessing ICTs. This paper explores the role of ICTs in empowering Indian rural women, through a review of ICT initiatives in India. The paper concludes that, while most of the ICT initiatives are disseminating new information and knowledge useful for rural women, many are not able to make use of it, due to lack of access to complementary sources of support and services. Among the varied tools, the knowledge centres and the community radio were found to have the greatest potential in reaching women with locally relevant content. There is immense potential for ICTs to create new employment opportunities for rural women and to contribute significant gains in efficiency and effectiveness in rural women enterprises. While ICTs can play an important role in empowering rural women, women’s access and use of ICTs and empowerment clearly depends on the vision and operational agenda of the organization applying the ICTs. Therefore, strengthening the ICT initiative of such organizations can go a long way in empowering rural women. Besides generating locally relevant content and enhancing the capacities of rural women in accessing ICTs, efforts are also needed to bridge the different types of digital divide (rural-urban; men-women).
Click here to download.
“Studying Rural Innovation Management: A Framework and Early Findings from RIU in South Asia”. RIU Discussion Paper Series #2010-11, December 2010, Research Into Use (RIU): UK",
Sulaiman, Rasheed V., Andy Hall, Vamsidhar Reddy, T.S. and Kumuda Dorai (2010).
Key Words: Innovation Management, Agricultural Research, Innovation, Development, Policy, Value Chain Development, South Asia, Innovation Trajectories, Functions, Actions, Tools, Organisational Format
Abstract: This paper aims to map the experience of the RIU Asia projects and draw out the main innovation management tactics being observed while laying the groundwork for further research on this topic. It provides a framework to help analyse the sorts of innovation management tasks that are becoming important. This framework distinguishes four elements of innovation management: (i) Functions (ii) Actions (iii) Tools and (iv) Organisational Format. The paper’s review of the distribution of innovation management in the Asia projects suggests that it is not technology access-related tasks alone that are important, but the bundling of these with other activities, which include the development of networks, advocacy for policy change, training and other negotiated changes in practice and action. The implication for policy is that ways of supporting this wider suite of innovation management tasks would go a long way in helping make better use of agricultural research in rural development.
Click here to download.
“Organised Retailing of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables : Is it helping producers”,
authored by Rasheed Sulaiman V, N. J Kalaivani and Jatin Handoo, explores the procurement operations of organized corporate retailers in one of the major vegetable growing clusters in Andhra Pradesh, India and its impact on producers.
“Tacit Knowledge and Innovation Capacity: Evidence from the Indian Livestock Sector”,
authored by Rasheed Sulaiman V., Laxmi Thummuru, Andy Hall and Jeroen Dijkman. This paper explores the role of tacit knowledge in livestock sector innovation capacity though the case of Visakha Dairy, a producer-owned milk marketing company in India that used tacit knowledge to innovate around challenges.
CRISP researchers recently participated in the following events :
REACHING RURAL WOMEN- CD Launch, 14 October, 2009, New Delhi:
This launch meeting was jointly organized by CRISP, Cirrus Management Services Pvt Limited and the Glasgow Caledonian University to promote the new approach to designing programmes for rural women. The resource CD contains the details of a new consultative process for designing demand-led programmes for rural women. For copies of the CD, kindly contact crispindia@gmail.com or the contents of this CD could also be accessesed at www.reachingruralwomen.org.
South Asia Rural Innovation Capacity Benchmarking Workshop, 19-20 August, 2009, New Delhi
This workshop was organized jointly by the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, CRISP and LINK (Learning, INnnovation, Knowledge). The workshop was designed as a policy dialogue on implications for capacity benchmarking if South Asian countries wanted to move from science and technology policy to innovation policy with the specific goals of rural development. The workshop brought together senior officials within S&T organisations engaged in science, technology and innovation planning, and academics/ researchers/ practitioners involved in rural innovation in South Asian countries. For proceedings of this workshop click here.
First meeting of the Fodder Innovation Policy Working Group (FIPWG), 24 February 2009, NDDB, Anand
CRISP in collaboration with the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) organised the first meeting of the FIPWG of the Fodder Innovation Project (www.fodderinnovation.org) at Anand. This meeting was hosted by the NDDB. This meeting was chaired by Dr. Amrita Patel, Chairman, NDDB. The purpose of the meeting was to share the findings and insights emerging from the project thus far and obtain comments on the relevance and effectiveness of its approach. The project also sought contributions to the type of questions this research asks and assistance in promoting its findings. A select group of 30 participants representing a diverse mix of organisations ranging from the central Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry department, NDDB, the Planning Commission, National Seeds Corporation, ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research), the cooperative milk unions and various NGOs attended this meeting.
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FAO-Government of India National Medium Term Priority Framework Meeting, 8-12 December 2008, New Delhi.
Dr. Rasheed Sulaiman V developed the sector paper on “Knowledge Generation and Management” for the FAO-Government of India workshop for preparing the National Medium Term Priority Framework held at New Delhi. This paper identifies opportunities for meaningful intervention by international developmental agencies based on identification of weaknesses, gaps and hurdles faced by the sector. The paper argues that this sector is affected by two major weaknesses. Firstly, those related to institutional issues or its ways of working and secondly, those related to lack of expertise, manpower and finances. The paper identifies capacity development for knowledge generation and management as the most appropriate role international development agencies could play in the Indian context. These include: enhancing capacity to deal with new science and technologies, promoting new ways of working and supporting institutional and policy changes.
IFPRI Conference on advancing agriculture in developing countries through knowledge and Innovation, 7-9 April 2008, Addis Ababa
In one of the session on Knowledge, Innovation, Agricultural Extension and Education, Dr. Rasheed Sulaiman V, presented a paper on Extension from an Innovation Systems Perspective.
Seminar on Trade, Technology and the Impact of Globalisation-New dimensions in Indo-Canadian relations, IIM, Bangalore (30-31 March 2007)
Dr. Rajeswari Raina presented a paper on “Rural Innovation-Lessons for the State and Industry”. Her presentation focussed on the importance of rural innovation and the major lessons on promoting rural innovation that were drawn from a number of case studies undertaken during the last 3 years. The paper argues for a concerted effort by the state and the industry to promote rural innovation and make suggestions on how better they could contribute to this task.
Expert Workshop on Enhancing Agricultural Innovation Systems, The World Bank, Washington, DC (22-23 March 2007)
Dr.Rasheed Sulaiman V presented two papers; based on the two case studies he did for the UNU-MERIT/World Bank study that assessed the usefulness of the innovation systems concept in guiding investments to support knowledge-intensive, sustainable agriculture development for the Bank’s client countries and their collaborators. Recently, the report of this study has been published by the World Bank (World Bank, 2007, Enhancing Agricultural Innovation: How to go beyond strengthening of research systems, The World Bank, Washington D.C). The case studies from India were on vanilla and medicinal plants. The case studies analyses the nature of innovation challenge, the patterns of interaction among the major actors and the policy and institutional environment influencing innovation in these two sectors in India and suggests potential ways forward.
National Consultations on Agricultural Research and Extension, National
Knowledge Commission, New Delhi (15 January, 2007)
Rajeswari Raina and Rasheed Sulaiman V participated in the consultations on the
National Knowledge Commission (NKC) on Agricultural Research and Extension on 15
January 2007 at New Delhi. Their presentations focused on the need for institutional
reforms in research and extension and how innovation systems framework can potentially
assist in this task.
National Symposium on Rural Credit for Inclusive Growth, College of
Agricultural Banking, Reserve Bank of India, Pune (12-13 January 2007)
Dr. Rasheed Sulaiman V presented a paper "Extension services in India: Emerging
Challenges and Ways Forward" that argued for a broader mandate for extension and
wider partnerships to achieve this. Based on a synthesis of select cases from India, the
paper illustrates how agencies dealing with credit, extension and market have partnered
to promote rural innovation and discusses its implications for extension reform.
SAIC-NAARM Regional Workshop on Research Extension Linkages for Effective Delivery & Agricultural Technologies, NAARM, Hyderabad(20-22 November 2006)
National Workshop on Indian Agriculture Crisis & Ways Forward, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi( 6 November 2006.)
4th GLOBELICS International Conference, Trivandrum (4 - 7 October 2006)
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