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Rural Innovation
The Rural Policy Centre is currently undertaking research work on innovation in rural Scotland, with a particular focus on innovation in the land-based sector.
The research will involve staff from across three SAC Divisions and will explore a number of different themes, including:
- the concept of 'innovation systems' (IS);
- a mapping exercise of innovation and knowledge systems in Scotland and the barriers to their effective functioning;
- an in-depth analysis of selected innovation structures, including the current and future role of SAC;
- an analysis of IS in Scotland and elsewhere, including New Zealand and the Netherlands;
- and an analysis of the relationship between the CAP and wider EU policies on innovation.
This work by the Centre will feed into policy formulation at Scottish, UK and EU levels, both in relation to the agricultural sector and more broadly.
The Centre's first Policy Briefing on this topic is available on the right hand side of this page. This Policy Briefing reviews the EU, UK and Scottish policy context for innovation and discusses recent research on innovation in rural areas. The Briefing is aimed particularly at policy researchers and government policy staff working in the fields of innovation and agricultural and rural policy-making.
More information on specific projects is available below. Please watch this space for more information on projects and links to publications as the work progresses!
Enhancing the impact of SAC on the rural sector: Adopting the Innovation Systems concept
Innovation is of critical importance to policy-makers at the current time. The Scottish Government sees innovation as one of the key drivers of Scotland's future economic success and quality of life. The House of Lords has recently undertaken a review of innovation in EU agriculture and Defra sees a central role for innovation in meeting key challenges in the agri-food sector. At the same time, however, concerns have been raised as to the lack of innovationwith in rural industries.
This project aims to improve the culture of innovation within the rural sector of Scotland and to strengthen the positive role that SAC has to play in the process. The project will use an 'innovation systems' approach which provides a useful framework within which the innovation process can be assessed and better understood. Mofakkarul Islam will be working on this project for the next two years, and his work will involve a review of existing literature on 'innovation systems', a mapping of innovation/knowledge systems in Scotland, and an identification of best practice through in-depth analysis of selected innovation structures (including SAC) in a number of different countries (including New Zealand, the Netherlands and France) with opportunities identified for extending the reach and impact of these organisations.
The innovation research team has recently published a briefing on innovation in four agrifood sectors in Scotland. This is available on the right hand side of this page.
Barriers to the adoption of agricultural innovations: A meta-analysis of the empirical literature
It is widely agreed that technological transformation is vital for Scottish agriculture to overcome the current challenges - such as declining productivity, low cost efficiency and profitability, climate change and the degradation of natural resources - and to avail of new opportunities - such as a growing international demand for food. Although a host of relevant technologies are now available - such as recent developments in genetics and genomics, renewable energy technologies and new farming systems - the uptake of these innovations has been low in some instances, despite their economic advantages.
This project will involve a meta-analysis of the empirical literature and aims to 1) identify the common barriers to the uptake of technological innovations, 2) identify how the effects of the key barriers vary according to innovation types and units and regions of adoption, and 3) discuss how the salient barriers are relevant to Scottish agriculture.
This project, involving Mofakkarul Islam and Andrew Barnes, will be undertaken in Spring 2012.