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Development Outcomes of Local Innovation

This research examines how local innovation contributes to sustainable development. What are the positive changes that result from local innovation activity and from building local capacity for innovation, who experiences these results, and at what scales (local, regional, or beyond) are they relevant? Drawing from theory and methods in complexity science, systems dynamics, and theory-driven approaches to program evaluation, we also investigate how local innovation processes contribute to achieving various development outcomes. 

These questions are being explored through multi-year and multi-site research studies that are developing systems-level, complexity-consistent approaches to identify the types of outcomes associated with local innovation and the causal pathways through which these outcomes are produced. These studies clarify how local innovation contributes to development and how it can be leveraged as an effective development strategy. 

Related Publications and Resources 

Identifying common outcomes of CCB programs: key informant interviews with practitioners (Interim project report, 2021) 

What is capacity to innovate and how can it be assessed? A review of the literature (Peer-reviewed conference paper, 2016)

Towards a complexity-aware theory of change for participatory research programs working within agricultural innovation systems (Agricultural Systems, 2017)  

Understanding inclusive innovation processes in agricultural systems: a middle-range conceptual model (World Development) 

Towards a complexity-aware theory of change for participatory research programs working within agricultural innovation systems (Agricultural Systems)  

Projects