Enabling food system innovation: Accelerators for change

It is widely accepted that current food systems are not on a trajectory for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by the end of the decade. Technological innovation will have a considerable role to play in different parts of the food system; many promising options exist or are in the pipeline,...

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Main Authors: Thornton, Philip K., Mason D'Croz, Daniel, Kugler, Cody, Remans, Roseline, Zornetzer, Heather, Herrero, Mario
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173574
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author Thornton, Philip K.
Mason D'Croz, Daniel
Kugler, Cody
Remans, Roseline
Zornetzer, Heather
Herrero, Mario
author_browse Herrero, Mario
Kugler, Cody
Mason D'Croz, Daniel
Remans, Roseline
Thornton, Philip K.
Zornetzer, Heather
author_facet Thornton, Philip K.
Mason D'Croz, Daniel
Kugler, Cody
Remans, Roseline
Zornetzer, Heather
Herrero, Mario
author_sort Thornton, Philip K.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description It is widely accepted that current food systems are not on a trajectory for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by the end of the decade. Technological innovation will have a considerable role to play in different parts of the food system; many promising options exist or are in the pipeline, some of which may be highly disruptive to existing value chains. Scaling up the innovations required, at the same time as protecting those who may lose out in the short term, will require a strong enabling environment. Here we apply an existing framework of eight change accelerators to six case studies of historical agricultural innovation. We estimated the degree to which each accelerator had been addressed at some stage in the innovation process, as a measure of the gap between what was needed and what was achieved. For the innovations that are being taken to scale and widely utilized, these accelerator gaps are small. Uptake of other innovations is stalled, and for these we found large gaps for one or more of the eight accelerators. Impactful innovation processes address all eight change accelerators at some point, with different phasing of the accelerators depending on the nature of the technology and on the impact pathway being pursued. This simple framework, when used in combination with narratives of uptake based on theories of change and impact pathways, may provide an effective means of screening future innovation processes to help prioritize and guide investment that can lead to more resilient, sustainable and equitable food systems.
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publishDate 2024
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spelling CGSpace1735742025-11-18T15:42:24Z Enabling food system innovation: Accelerators for change Thornton, Philip K. Mason D'Croz, Daniel Kugler, Cody Remans, Roseline Zornetzer, Heather Herrero, Mario food systems technology technology adoption impact It is widely accepted that current food systems are not on a trajectory for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by the end of the decade. Technological innovation will have a considerable role to play in different parts of the food system; many promising options exist or are in the pipeline, some of which may be highly disruptive to existing value chains. Scaling up the innovations required, at the same time as protecting those who may lose out in the short term, will require a strong enabling environment. Here we apply an existing framework of eight change accelerators to six case studies of historical agricultural innovation. We estimated the degree to which each accelerator had been addressed at some stage in the innovation process, as a measure of the gap between what was needed and what was achieved. For the innovations that are being taken to scale and widely utilized, these accelerator gaps are small. Uptake of other innovations is stalled, and for these we found large gaps for one or more of the eight accelerators. Impactful innovation processes address all eight change accelerators at some point, with different phasing of the accelerators depending on the nature of the technology and on the impact pathway being pursued. This simple framework, when used in combination with narratives of uptake based on theories of change and impact pathways, may provide an effective means of screening future innovation processes to help prioritize and guide investment that can lead to more resilient, sustainable and equitable food systems. 2024-03 2025-03-11T14:08:27Z 2025-03-11T14:08:27Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173574 en Open Access application/pdf Elsevier Thornton, P.; Mason D'Croz, D.; Kugler, C.; Remans, R.; Zornetzer, H.; Herrero, M. (2024) Enabling food system innovation: Accelerators for change. Global Food Security 40: 100738. ISSN: 2211-9124
spellingShingle food systems
technology
technology adoption
impact
Thornton, Philip K.
Mason D'Croz, Daniel
Kugler, Cody
Remans, Roseline
Zornetzer, Heather
Herrero, Mario
Enabling food system innovation: Accelerators for change
title Enabling food system innovation: Accelerators for change
title_full Enabling food system innovation: Accelerators for change
title_fullStr Enabling food system innovation: Accelerators for change
title_full_unstemmed Enabling food system innovation: Accelerators for change
title_short Enabling food system innovation: Accelerators for change
title_sort enabling food system innovation accelerators for change
topic food systems
technology
technology adoption
impact
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173574
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AT masondcrozdaniel enablingfoodsysteminnovationacceleratorsforchange
AT kuglercody enablingfoodsysteminnovationacceleratorsforchange
AT remansroseline enablingfoodsysteminnovationacceleratorsforchange
AT zornetzerheather enablingfoodsysteminnovationacceleratorsforchange
AT herreromario enablingfoodsysteminnovationacceleratorsforchange