Putting agricultural research into use: Lessons from contested visions of innovation

This paper is a synthesis of research undertaken as part of the Research Into Use programme (RIU) to explore the question of how agricultural research can be used more effectively to improve agricultural production and farmers' livelihoods in developing countries. Many of the challenges the programme encountered were a result of contested visions of the way agricultural research should be used for innovation. The paper suggests a number of novel entry points for projects promoting research into use. However, it also argues that the effectiveness of RIU was undermined by its failure to productively manage contested visions of research and innovation within the programme and between the programme and its donors and other international champions of the dominant view on agricultural research and development.

Key words: Research Into Use, Innovation, Innovation Systems, Innovation Management, Institutional Change, Agricultural Research, Development, Policy, South Asia, Africa

JEL Codes: L26, L31, L33, N5, N55, N57, O13, O19, O21, O22, O31, O32, O33, O53, Q13, Q16