Innovation Policy: Lessons from the Department for International Development’s Crop Post Harvest Research Programme, Partnerships for Innovation

Project description: This exercise was commissioned by NR International Limited (NRIL) to ‘learn the lessons’ from the way the £24 million Crop Post-Harvest Programme funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) has evolved over its eleven-year history from a traditional research-funding programme to one based on ‘Partnerships for Innovation’ (P4I). Since 2002, the Programme has sought to adopt best practice associated with the achievement of innovation – the so-called Innovation Systems (IS) approach, in which research becomes just one element of a wider process of transforming ‘new knowledge’ into goods and services. This review examined a large number of project documents, and interviewed key informants in nine countries: the UK, India, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Ghana. The conclusions of this report have influenced the design of the DFID funded Research Into Use programme currently being implemented by NR International.

Client: NR International Ltd

Duration: 9 months