Agriculture s s future needs for research: challenges, innovations and institutions

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1 Agriculture s s future needs for research: challenges, innovations and institutions Catherine Moreddu Trade and Agriculture Directorate Oslo, Norway, 3 February 2011

2 Outline 1. OECD relevant activities: general and agriculture specific 2. Challenges for agriculture 3. Agricultural innovation systems: challenges and policy recommendations 4. Institutional trends in agricultural AKS 5. Future OECD work on agricultural innovation systems 6. OECD innovation strategy and governance of innovation systems OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 2

3 OECD relevant activities STI activities on innovation: OECD Reviews of Innovation Policy Main Science and Technology Indicators (R&D expenditures, number of researchers) Governance of innovation systems (2005) Innovation strategy (2010) [food security] Biotechnologies and food security ( ) TAD activities Symposium and Ministerial meeting (February 2010) OECD Cooperative Research Project ( ) project on innovation systems, including AKS conference (15 17 June 2011) Links with work on Green growth/food security/climate change OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 3

4 Agricultural Ministerial Meeting Agriculture Ministers recognised the need to foster innovation, including transfer of technologies, in order to increase productivity, enhance efficiency, improve sustainable resource use, respond to climate change and reduce waste including through balanced protection of intellectual property rights " and to establish "a regulatory environment conducive to innovation and new technology, and to public private partnerships. They asked the OECD Secretariat to "explore ways in which public, private and public private actions would improve innovation within the global food and agriculture system, with a view to increasing productivity growth, ensuring sustainable resource use, responding to demands from consumers and limiting waste" OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 4

5 Challenges for the agro food system Growing population to be fed Scarce resources Climate change changing environment Higher diversity of demand Innovation and technologies are key factors for the future Better information needed on all these aspects OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 5

6 Key areas for innovation systems Water use efficiency Soil conservation Biodiversity Carbon sequestration Utilisation of wastes and waste reduction Aquaculture Potential of algae Biotechnology (going well beyond GM) Animal cloning Pest and disease control Risk assessment Science based evidence Source: 2009 OECD Symposium; OECD (2010), CRP Conference. OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 6

7 Agriculture and innovation issues Need for increased total factor productivity in the food and agricultural system, and for ecological, economic and social sustainability Overcome emerging scarcities : they are not necessarily absolute e.g. plants can be made smarter in their use of water and nutrients Key role of technological change; generation and diffusion of new technology Right incentives for innovation and adoption in different social, cultural and economic contexts Effective regulatory framework important Balance economic interests of innovator and potential hazards of new technologies Intellectual property regulation and data protection significant for incentivising investment in innovation Source: 2009 OECD Symposium. OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 7

8 Challenges for innovation systems Innovation pipeline very long in relation to policy makers horizon Linkages in this chain need improvement Need to renew the skill base in science, attract young entrants Most innovations relevant to state of the art technology in 2030 have already occurred Innovation should focus not only on new products and services, but on issues of uptake, availability, acceptance, necessary skills: Public acceptance of innovation crucial Precautionary principle has gone too far, we need a better balance between risk and benefit Source: 2009 OECD Symposium. OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 8

9 Conclusions from 2009 Symposium Resource scarcity is a problem that needs to be addressed by innovations in technology, improved efficiency along the supply chain; Fixing market imperfections and getting prices to better reflect resource scarcities is a key challenge; Distributional consequences of improving resource use policies have to become integral to policy design; The future is uncertain; anticipating emerging scarcities is one important aspect of preparations for the future. But scarcities are not necessarily absolute and can be overcome; Policies must get the incentives right for long term growth in the context of increasing environmental pressures; Policy responses need to be longer term, less superficial, cross disciplinary, interlinked. OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 9

10 CRP recommendations for agricultural research Be broader in scope and in scale Scope to include productivity, environment/ biodiversity, food chain and food safety, human nutrition, health nonfood products, climate change and socio economic and educational issues Scale from molecules to landscape, from local to global issues and from farmers need to all stakeholders Integrate of public/private efforts Policy coherence Harness science, technology and supply chains OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 10

11 Institutional trends in agricultural AKS Stronger link between higher education and research (UMR INRA agricultural schools) Stronger link between universities and research institutes (LEI) Links with other sectors, e.g. medicine, veterinary, RD, general economics Pluridisciplinarity Links research government: Increased demand from policy makers (evidencebased policies, accountability, evaluation); in situ departments Private/public funding through projects Increasing private research International dimension (incl. within EU) Large diversity in extension systems: role of universities, producer organisation, coops, private sector; development of technical assistance to elaborate projects to apply for funds OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 11

12 Organisation of agricultural economics research Ag econ institute separate or integrated with agronomics, or environment, or. Ag econ separate or integrated with general economics Governance/financing of ag econ research: input funding versus demand driven > how to make investments in long running, low yielding research such as models to analyze long term challenges OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 12

13 Future OECD work on innovation systems Agricultural Knowledge Systems (AKS) Conference, June 2011 Country case studies Institutional aspects Technology transfers OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 13

14 AKS Conference How to foster the development and adoption of innovation at national and global level in order to meet global food security and climate change challenges? AKS widely defined: Higher education to extension, national/international, public/private, all innovations Agenda 1. Background: Issues/context 2. How well do AKS respond to new challenges: How are they organised? Who does what? Do they provide the innovations that are demanded? on time? What works and what are impediments? Best practices 3. Improving the responsiveness: Incentives/disincentives Institutional framework Public/private role Regulatory framework conducive to innovation Facilitating adopting of innovations and technology transfers 4. Coherence of AKS systems with broader policy objectives OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 14

15 Governance of innovation systems Institutions for knowledge production and policy analysis are often linked to specific ministries and domains: this may reinforce a segmented culture and make it more difficult to produce coherent, policy relevant knowledge Need for monitoring and reporting systems Short/long term Importance of benchmarking: STI indicators OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 15

16 Innovation strategy: R&D institutions Innovation is more than science, but science remains a key driver Mainly recommendations on innovation policies, including some regarding R&D institutions and public research Public research to enhance excellence and create better links to other innovators and stakeholders More autonomy in funding public research to facilitate cooperation with private sector and multidisciplinary approaches, and respond to industry needs Competitive funding through projects Improve technology transfers: remove obstacle to cooperation, foster international co operation, networks: need to define clear rules Improve measurement, evaluation: comprehensive data infrastructure (Oslo manual) Define best practices OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 16

17 Innovation strategy: Food Security Investment in R&D, technology transfers and extension systems, in particular in developing countries Adoption of new technologies for crop resistance and resilience, and to enhance the attributes of products for food and non food use OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 17

18 For further reading OECD (2010), Challenges for Agricultural Research, Cooperative Research Programme Conference held in Prague on 6 8 April 2009, OECD, Paris. OECD (2010), Ministerial report on the OECD Innovation Strategy OECD and Eurostat (2005), Oslo Manual Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data, OECD, Paris OECD (2005), Governance of Innovation Systems, Volume 1: Synthesis Report, OECD, Paris. Communiqué from the Ministers Meeting of the Committee for Agriculture at Ministerial Level, February OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 18

19 Thank You Trade and Agriculture Directorate Visit our PSE/CSE website: Contact us: OECD Trade & Agriculture Directorate 19