Enhancing Interactive Innovation in the Rural Areas of Europe through Evaluation: Quantitative Network Analysis and Qualitative Self-Evaluation Tools

Abstract

This Ph.D. thesis has been developed within the framework of a European Horizon 2020 project called "LIAISON: Linking Actors, Instruments and Policies through Networks." LIAISON is part of a larger initiative of the EU Commission under the new policy concept European Innovation Partnership on Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI) and challenges the fundamental agricultural system fostering partnerships and close cooperation between farmers, producers, processors, advisors, and researchers to speed up the capacity to innovate in agriculture, forestry, and rural development. This research and innovation project aims to foster and optimize interactive innovation in agriculture, forestry, and rural areas. In line with this aim, the project LIAISON assessed 200 reviews in interactive innovation projects in 15 countries in Europe, of which 32 cases were assessed in-depth. The works carried out in this thesis are part of the project LIAISON, which is to explore the innovation impact assessment approaches and further to developing methods and tools for evaluation. The contribution of the thesis is to give voice to the rising new paradigm of interactive innovation through a thorough literature review and in-depth case study analysis. Literature review was done on innovation impact assessment in rural, agriculture, and forestry. The findings contribute to lay the base framework for the cases analyzed in the remaining chapters. Chapter 1 presents a thorough literature review on innovation impact assessment in rural, agriculture, and forestry. This review aimed to find methodologies and frameworks that draw upon new solutions to face the challenges for an impactful innovation impact assessment in the rural territory. The focus was to explore how methods address the innovation process itself as it develops throughout the process. Therefore, the study is not looking at the result of the innovation processes but how impact assessment can support and optimize the innovation process. A two-stage systematic ...