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Box 2: Types of innovation (derived from World Bank, 2007)
Planned innovation includes:
A foundation stage that government supports through research and/or policy interventions, during
which priority sectors and commodities are identified.
An expansion phase, where government intervenes with projects or programmes to link actors in the
innovation system.
Opportunity-driven innovation includes:
A initiation stage, where the private sector, sometimes with the support of NGOs, takes the lead, and
companies or entrepreneurs identifies market opportunities.
An emergence stage, where the innovation takes off, often with rapid growth driven by the private
sector, but is recognised by government and sometimes supported by NGOs.
Prior to this there may be an uncoordinated or remedial phase, when the innovation faced stagnation
or pressure to innovate further because of competition, particularly from other countries, changing
consumer demands, or trade rules.
Self sustaining innovation
The ultimate phase of development for both planned and opportunity-driven innovation is a dynamic
system that is neither public nor private sector led, but characterised by a high degree of public and
private interaction and collaboration in planning and implementation. Such a system is agile, responding
quickly to emerging challenges and opportunities and delivering economic growth in a socially inclusive
and environmentally sustainable way.
Factors that trigger innovation tend to be either policy- or market-driven (World Bank, 2007).
Either the public or private sectors can initiate them. The initial context helps to shape both the
type of intervention and by which sector it is initiated. Both public and private can lead to selfsustaining
and dynamic systems of innovation (Box 2 and Table 2).
Table 2 outlines the elements and characteristics of planned and opportunity-driven innovations,
showing in the planned innovations movement from the initial context, either a pre-planning
or uncoordinated stage where individuals and institutions are in place but working in isolation,
often with limited trust and collaboration. In this situation little appropriate research takes
place often in an ‘ivory tower’, access to information is difficult and training is limited. In public
sector led innovation, two stages are identified: a foundation and an expansion phase. In the
foundation stage, a strong public sector works alongside an increasing or emerging private
sector. Research may still take place in isolation with limited interaction between stakeholders,
but may be more relevant than in the initial context, even in the absence of incentives for this
to occur. During the expansion phase public, private and civil society actors take an increasing
interest and coordinating bodies for innovation are likely to emerge, often with individuals as
‘champions’ that can drive and coordinate new initiatives.
Two stages (initiation and emergence) have also been identified in opportunity-driven
innovation. The starting point is often stagnation in the sector, where actors may be in place, but
there are few linkages and little coordination. There may be independent but uncoordinated
efforts at making improvements, but with weak collaboration and an absence of incentives for
12 Agricultural Innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa