Fostering innovation in the agriculture sector: The case of intermediary organisations in Mexico

As a result of the importance acquired by the approach to the innovation systems in theory and policy,5,6 in recent years, the study of Innovation Intermediary Organisations (IIOs) has gained great interest. The OIIs are perceived as important agents in connecting knowledge supply and demand in the national systems of innovation (NSI).1 The authors highlight some functions that these organisations must meet to make these connections happen. This topic has been incorporated into the analysis of the agricultural sector, particularly in developed countries.7 It is argued that in order to act as an intermediary in the agricultural sector, IIOs must also meet a set of specific functions, in some cases different from those generally set for other NSIs. In the case of the agricultural sector in developed countries, where agricultural innovation systems are more articulated than in developing countries, those authors place more emphasis on the generation and transfer of new knowledge, and the articulation between producers and knowledge-intensive organisations. In contrast, in Mexico, as well as in many developing countries, the agricultural innovation system is to some extent still in its infancy, with a greater development of the public research system but weakly linked with farmers. There exists great heterogeneity among farmers, and those who have not mastered the best-known technology packages predominate. Therefore, innovation in this context refers more to the introduction of existing knowledge rather than the search for new knowledge at national or global levels. In this context, the functions of IIOs may observe specificities.