Innovation platforms are widely used in agricultural research to connect different stakeholders to achieve common goals. To help document recent experiences and insights, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) recently published a series of short innovation platform ‘practice briefs’ to help guide the design and implementation of innovation platforms in agricultural research for development.
This thirteenth brief reflects on some of issues and opportunities faced when innovation platforms – or the innovations they generate – are scaled out.
Innovation platform actors
An innovation platform is defined as ‘a space for learning and change. It is a group of individuals (who often represent organizations) with different backgrounds and interests: farmers, traders, food processors, researchers, government officials etc. The members come together to diagnose problems, identify opportunities and find ways to achieve their goals. They may design and implement activities as a platform, or coordinate activities by individual members.’
Scaling an innovation platform approach is only useful if working together generates added value for tall the actors. For straightforward challenges, it is probably not always necessary to set up a platform. For more complex situations, a platform approach may be worthwhile.
More on innovation platforms
Related ILRI materials on innovation systems
This brief is authored by Saskia Hendrickx (ILRI), Peter Ballantyne (ILRI), Alan Duncan (ILRI), Nils Teufel (ILRI) and Thanammal Ravichandran (ILRI). It is a contribution to the CGIAR Livestock and Fish research program, the development of this brief was led by the International Livestock Research Institute; it draws on experiences of several ILRI projects as well as those of other CGIAR centres and partner organizations. The series comprises 14 briefs:
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ILRI Clippings 