Title: Strengthening agricultural innovation capacity: are innovation brokers the answer?

Authors: Laurens Klerkx, Andy Hall, Cees Leeuwis

Addresses: Communication and Innovation Studies, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, Wageningen, 6706 KN, The Netherlands. ' UNU-MERIT, Keizer Karelplein 19, 6211 TC Maastricht, The Netherlands. ' Communication and Innovation Studies, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, Wageningen, 6706 KN, The Netherlands

Abstract: Taking the case of Dutch agriculture as an example, this paper examines the emergence and role of innovation brokers in stimulating agricultural innovation system interaction and innovation capacity building, and reflects upon their potential role in developing and emerging countries| agriculture and how their emergence and functioning can be fostered. It concludes that innovation brokerage is likely to be relevant in developing countries, that public or donor investment may be needed to overcome inherent tensions regarding the legitimacy and funding of such players in the innovation system and that stimulating the emergence of innovation brokers requires a policy that supports institutional learning and experimentation to ensure that the brokers become locally embedded.

Keywords: agricultural innovation systems; innovation capacity; intermediaries; network linkage building; innovation brokers; innovation policy; agricultural extension; agricultural research; The Netherlands; developing countries; emerging countries; Africa; Asia; Latin America; Dutch agriculture; organisational learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJARGE.2009.032643

International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 2009 Vol.8 No.5/6, pp.409 - 438

Received: 29 Jul 2009
Accepted: 10 Jan 2010
Published online: 09 Apr 2010 *

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