Skip to main content
Log in

Responsible innovation through conscious contestation at the interface of agricultural science, policy, and civil society

  • Published:
Agriculture and Human Values Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This research examines a series of case studies from the agricultural sector to illustrate how various models of innovation embrace value proposition. A conscious value contestation at the interface of science, policy and civil society requires transformations in the triple-helix model of university-government-industry collaboration, because reiterations in the triple-helix model of innovation, such as quadruple, quintuple and higher helices, do not necessarily address civil society concerns for human values and science ethics. This research develops and tests a matrix model of university-government-industry-civil society collaboration, which involves the co-creation of inclusive and transformational spaces for value proposition. Findings suggest that the matrix model of innovation institutionalises citizen science as it serves as a moral heuristic to make seemingly apolitical science responsive to essentially contested societal values.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Altieri, M. 2005. The Myth of Coexistence: Why Transgenic Crops Are Not Compatible With Agroecologically Based Systems of Production. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society 25 (4): 361–371.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashby, J. A., and L. Sperling. 1995. Institutionalizing Participatory, Client-Driven Research and Technology Development in Agriculture. Development and Change 26: 753–770.

    Google Scholar 

  • Axinn, G. H. 1988. International Technical Interventions in Agriculture and Rural Development: Some Basic Trends, Issues, and Questions. Agriculture and Human Values 5 (1–2): 6–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Azadi, H., and P. Ho. 2010. Genetically modified and organic crops in developing countries: A review of options for food security. Biotechnology Advances 28: 160–168.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biggs, S. D. 1998. Beyond Methodologies: Coalition-Building for Participatory Technology Development. World Development 26 (2): 239–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bird, S. J. 2015. Social Responsibility and Research Ethics: Not Either/Or but Both. Washington, DC: Americal Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAC).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bos, A. P., and J. Grin. 2012. Reflexive interactive design as an instrument for dual track governance. In System Innovations, Knowledge Regimes, and Design Practices towards Transitions for Sustainable Agriculture, eds. M. Barbier, and B. Elzen, 132–153. France: INRA Science for Action and Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bouis, H. E., and R. M. Welch. 2010. Biofortification—A Sustainable Agricultural Strategy for Reducing Micronutrient Malnutrition in the Global South. Crop Science 50 (2): S1–S13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bramwell, A., and D. A. Wolfe. 2008. Universities and regional economic development: The entrepreneurial University of Waterloo. Research Policy 37 (8): 1175–1187.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks, S. 2010. Rice Biofortification: Lessons for Global Science and Development. London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks, S., and M. Loevinsohn. 2011. Shaping agricultural innovation systems responsive to food insecurity and climate change. Natural Resources Forum 35: 185–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brumfiel, G. 2012. Good science bad science: Work on mutant flu caused a furore, but is far from the only subject in which risks might outweigh benefits. Nature 484: 432–434.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chilvers, J. 2012. Reflexive Engagement? Actors, Learning, and Reflexivity in Public Dialogue on Science and Technology. Science Communication 35 (3): 283–310.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, J. L. 2015. Killing the Enviropigs. Journal of Animal Ethics 5 (1): 20–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, N., B. Yoganand, and A. Hall. 2002. New science, capacity development and institutional change: the case of the Andra Pradesh-Netherlands Biotechnology Programme (APNLBP). The International Journal of Technology Management and Sustainable Development 1 (3): 196–212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, J. K., M. Bean, S. Raja, S. Loveridge, J. Freedgood, and K. Hodgson. 2017. Cooperative extension and food system change: goals, strategies and resources. Agriculture and Human Values 34 (2): 301–316.

    Google Scholar 

  • Classen, L., S. Humphries, J. FitzSimons, S. Kaaria, J. Jiménez, F. Sierra, and O. Gallardo. 2008. Opening Participatory Spaces for the Most Marginal: Learning from Collective Action in the Honduran Hillsides. World Development 36 (11): 2402–2420.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conway, G. 2012. One Billion Hungry: Can We Feed the World? Ithace: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conway, G., and E. B. Barbier. 1990. After the Green Revolution: Sustainable Agriculture for Development. London: Earth scan Publications Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooke, P. 2010. Regional innovation systems: development opportunities from the ‘green turn’. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management 22 (7): 831–844.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, J. A., M. Menter, and C. O’Kane. 2017. Value creation in the quadruple helix: a micro level conceptual model of principal investigators as value creators. R&D Management 48 (1): 136–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dary, O., and J. O. Mora. 2002. Food Fortification to Reduce Vitamin A Deficiency: International Vitamin A Consultative Group Recommendations. The Journal of Nutrition 132 (9): 2927S–2933S.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dubock, A. 2014. The present status of Golden Rice. Journal of Huazhong Agricultural University 33: 69–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duguet, A.-M., T. Wu, A. Altavilla, H. Man, and D. M. Harris. 2013. Ethics in Research with Vulnerable Populations and Emerging Countries: The Golden Rice Case. North Carolina Journal of International Law & Commercial Regulation 38: 979–1129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Einsiedel, E. F. 2002. Assessing a controversial medical technology: Canadian public consultations on xenotransplantation. Public Understanding of Science 11: 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenhardt, K. M. 1989. Building Theories from Case Study Research. The Academy of Management Review 14 (4): 532–550.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elzen, B., F. W. Geels, C. Leeuwis, and B. van Mierlob. 2011. Normative contestation in transitions ‘in the making’: Animal welfare concerns and system innovation in pig husbandry. Research Policy 40: 263–275.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emery, S. B., H. A. J. Mulder, and L. J. Frewer. 2015. Maximizing the Policy Impacts of Public Engagement: A European Study. Science, Technology, & Human Values 40 (3): 421–444.

    Google Scholar 

  • ETC Group. 2013. Putting the Cartel before the Horse… and Farm, Seeds, Soil, Peasants, etc. Who Will Control Agricultural Inputs, 2013? Ottawa: ETC Group Headquarters.

    Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz, H., and L. Leydesdorff. 2000. The dynamics of innovation: from National Systems and “Mode 2” to a Triple Helix of university—industry—government relations. Research Policy 29: 109–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz, H., and C. Zhou. 2018. Innovation incommensurability and the science park. R&D Management 48 (1): 73–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Falcon, W. P. 1970. The Green Revolution: Generations of Problems. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 52 (5): 698–710.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, D. R., and W. R. Freudenburg. 2001. Ecological Modernization and Its Critics: Assessing the Past and Looking Toward the Future. Society and Natural Resources 14: 701–709.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, K., P. Vecchia, and M. Repacholi. 2000. Science and the Precautionary Principle. Science 288 (5468): 979–981.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friederichsen, R., T. T. Minh, A. Neef, and V. Hoffmann. 2013. Adapting the innovation systems approach to agricultural development in Vietnam: challenges to the public extension service. Agriculture and Human Values 30: 555–568.

    Google Scholar 

  • Funtowicz, S. O., and J. R. Ravetz. 1994. The worth of a songbird: ecological economics as a post-normal science. Ecological Economics 10: 197–207.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gamuyao, R., J. H. Chin, J. Pariasca-Tanaka, P. Pesaresi, S. Catausan, C. Dalid, I. Slamet-Loedin, E. M. Tecson-Mendoza, M. Wissuwa, and S. Heuer. 2012. The protein kinase Pstol1 from traditional rice confers tolerance of phosphorus deficiency. Nature 488: 535–541.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geels, F. W. 2002. Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration process: a multi-level perspective and a case-study. Research Policy 31: 1257–1274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Godfray, H. C. J. 2015. The debate over sustainable intensification. Food Security 7 (2): 199–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Golovan, S. P., R. G. Meidinger, A. Ajakaiye, M. Cottrill, M. Z. Wiederkehr, D. J. Barney, C. Plante, J. W. Pollard, M. Z. Fan, M. A. Hayes, J. Laursen, J. P. Hjorth, R. R. Hacker, J. P. Phillips, and C. W. Forsberg. 2001. Pigs expressing salivary phytase produce low-phosphorus man. Nature Biotechnology 19: 741–745.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goode, W. J. 1997. Rational Choice Theory. The American Sociology 28 (2): 22–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenpeace International. 2011. Golden rice’s lack of lustre: Addressing vitamin A deficiency without genetic engineering. Amsterdam: Greenpeace International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grundel, I., and M. Dahlström. 2016. A Quadruple and Quintuple Helix Approach to Regional Innovation Systems in the Transformation to a Forestry-Based Bioeconomy. Journal of Knowledge Economy 7: 963–983.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, A., G. Bockett, S. Taylor, and M. V. K. Sivamohan. 2001. Why Research Partnership Really Matter: Innovation Theory, Institutional Arrangements and Implications for Developing New Technology for the Poor. World Development 29 (5): 783–797.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinrichs, C. C. 2014. Transitions to sustainability: a change in thinking about food systems change? Agriculture and Human Values 31: 143–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holton, G. 1992. How to think about the ‘anti-science’ phenomenon. Public Understanding of Science 1 (1): 103–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hounkonnou, D., D. Kossou, T. W. Kuyper, C. Leeuwis, E. S. Nederlof, N. Röling, O. Sakyi-Dawson, M. Traoré, and A. van Huis. 2012. An innovation systems approach to institutional change: Smallholder development in West Africa. Agricultural Systems 108: 74–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphries, S., O. Gallardo, J. Jimenez, and F. Sierra, and e. al. 2005. Linking small farmers to the formal research sector: lessons from a participatory bean breeding programmed in Honduras. AgREN Network Paper 142.

  • Iatridis, K., and D. Schroeder. 2016. Responsible Research and Innovation in Industry: The Case for Corporate responsibility Tools. London: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joss, S., and S. Bellucci. 2002. Participatory Technology Assessment: European Perspectives. London, UK: Centre for Study of Democracy, University of Westminster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kellogg Commission. 2000. Returning to Our Roots: Executive Summaries of the Reports of the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities. Washington, DC: National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenney, M., and D. Patton. 2009. Reconsidering the Bayh-Dole Act and the Current University Invention Ownership Model. Research Policy 38 (9): 1407–1422.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klerkx, L., S. van Bommel, B. Bos, H. Holster, J. V. Zwartkruis, and N. Aarts. 2012. Design process outputs as boundary objects in agricultural innovation projects: Functions and limitations. Agricultural Systems 113: 39–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koerkamp, P. W. G., and A. P. Bos. 2008. Designing complex and sustainable agricultural production systems: an integrated and reflexive approach for the case of table egg production in the Netherlands. NJAS—Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences 55 (2): 113–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lacey, H. 2002. Assessing the Value of Transgenic Crops. Science and Engineering Ethics 8: 497–511.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lacy, W. B. 1996. Research, Extension, and User Partnerships: Models for Collaboration and Strategies for Change. Agriculture and Human Values 13 (2): 33–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leydesdorff, L. 2012. The Triple Helix, Quadruple Helix,… and an N-Tuple of Helices: Explanatory Models for Analyzing the Knowledge-Based Economy? Journal of Knowledge Economy 3: 25–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leydesdorff, L., and H. Etzkowitz. 1996. Emergence of a Triple Helix of university-industry-government relations. Science and Public Policy 23 (5): 279–286.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leydesdorff, L., and M. Meyer. 2010. The decline of university patenting and the end of the Bayh–Dole effect. Scientometrics 83: 355–362.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leydesdorff, L., and J. Ward. 2005. Science shops: a kaleidoscope of science–society collaborations in Europe. Public Understanding of Science 14: 353–372.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lilja, N., and J. Dixon. 2008. Responding to the Challenges of Impact Assessment of Participatory Research and Gender Analysis. Experimental Agriculture 44: 3–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahon, N., I. Crute, M. Di Bonito, E. A. Simmons, and M. M. Islam. 2018. Towards a broad-based and holistic framework of sustainable intensification indicators. Land use Policy 77: 576–597.

    Google Scholar 

  • MASIPAG. 2001. Grains of delusion: Golden rice seen from the ground. Laguna, Philippines: Philippine Partnership for Development Farmer-Research Scientists (MASIPAG).

    Google Scholar 

  • McAdam, M., and K. Debackere. 2018. Beyond ‘triple helix’ toward ‘quadruple helix’ models in regional innovation systems: implications for theory and practice. R&D Management 48 (1): 3–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meenakshi, J. V., N. L. Johnson, V. M. Manyong, H. Degroore, J. Javelosa, D. R. Yanggen, F. Naher, C. Gonzalez, J. Garcia, and E. Meng. 2010. How Cost-Effective is Biofortification in Combating Micronutrient Malnutrition? An Ex-ante Assessment. World Development 38 (1(): 64–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, K., R. McAdam, and M. McAdam. 2018. A systematic literature review of university technology transfer from a quadruple helix perspective: toward a research agenda. R&D Management 48 (1): 7–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, M. L., and M. R. Bellon. 2004. Participatory plant breeding research: Opportunities and challenges for the international crop improvement. Euphytica 136: 21–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom, E. 1991. Rational Choice Theory and Institutional Analysis: Toward Complementarity. The American Political Science Review 85 (1): 237–243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom, E. 2010. Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems. American Economic Review 100: 641–672.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owen, R., J. Stilgoe, P. Macnaghten, M. Gorman, E. Fisher, and D. Guston. 2013. A Framework for Responsible Innovation. In Responsible Innovation: managing the responsible emergence of science and innovation in society, 1st Edition, eds. R. Owen, J. Bessant; and M. Heintz, 27–50. London: John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pant, L. P. 2016. Paradox of mainstreaming agroecology for regional and rural food security in developing countries. Technological Forecasting & Social Change 111: 305–316.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pant, L. P., and H. Hambly Odame. 2009. The promise of positive deviants: bridging divides between scientific research and local practices in smallholder agriculture. Knowledge Management for Development Journal 5 (2): 160–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pant, L. P., and J. Ramisch. 2010. Beyond Biodiversity: Culture in Agricultural Biodiversity Conservation in the Himalayan Foothills. In Beyond the Biophysical: Knowledge, Culture and Politics in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management, eds. L. German, J. Ramisch; and R. Verma, 73–97. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pant, L. P., K. B. KC, E. D. G. Fraser, P. K. Shrestha, A. Lama, S. K. Jirel, and P. Chaudhary. 2014. Adaptive Transition Management for Transformations to Agricultural Sustainability in the Karnali Mountains of Nepal. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 38 (10): 1156–1183.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parayil, G. 2003. Mapping technological trajectories of the Green Revolution and the Gene Revolution from modernization to globalization. Research Policy 32: 971–990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patel, R. 2009. Grassroots voices: Food sovereignty. The Journal of Peasant Studies 36 (3): 663–706.

    Google Scholar 

  • Persson, E. 2016. What are the core ideas behind the Precautionary Principle? Science of the Total Environment 557–558: 134–141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Potrykus, I. 2010. Regulation must be revolutionized. Nature 466: 561.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pretty, J. 1997. The sustainable intensification of agriculture. Natural Resources Forum 21 (4): 247–256.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rip, A., T. Misa, and J. Schot. 1995. Managing Technology in Society: The Approach of Constructive Technology Assessment. London: Pinter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robaey, Z. 2016. Transferring Moral Responsibility for Technological Hazards: The Case of GMOs in Agriculture. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 29: 767–786.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosendal, G. K. 2006. Balancing Access and Benefit Sharing and Legal Protection of Innovations From Bioprospecting Impacts on Conservation of Biodiversity. The Journal of Environment & Development 15 (4): 428–447.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanderson, J. 2015. Who killed the EnviroPig? Assemblages, genetically engineered animals and patents. Griffith Law Review 24 (2): 244–265.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schot, J. 2001. Towards New Forms of Participatory Technology Development. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management 13 (1): 39–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schut, M., A. van Paassen, C. Leeuwis, and L. Klerkx. 2014. Towards dynamic research configurations: A framework for reflection on the contribution of research to policy and innovation processes. Science and Public Policy 41: 207–218.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, H. T. 2005. A Larger Sense of Purpose: Higher Education and Society. Princeton, UAS: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sperling, L., M. E. Loevinsohn, and B. Ntabomvura. 1993. Rethinking the farmer’s role in plant breeding: local bean experts and on-station selection in Rwanda. Experimental Agriculture 29: 509–519.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spoelstra, S. F., P. W. G. Koerkamp, A. P. Bos, B. Elzen, and R. R. Leenstra. 2013. Innovation for sustainable egg production: realigning production with societal demands in The Netherlands. World’s Poultry Science Journal 69: 279–298.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stilgoe, J., R. Owen, and P. Macnaghten. 2013. Developing a framework for responsible innovation. Research Policy 42: 1568–1580.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stilgoe, J., S. J. Lock, and J. Wilsdon. 2014. Why should we promote public engagement with science? Public Understanding of Science 23 (1): 4–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stirling, A. 2014. Emancipating Transformation: From Controlling ‘the Transition’ to Culturing Plural Radical Progress. In The Politics of Green Transformations, eds. I. Scoones, M. Leach; and P. Newell., London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stokes, D. 1997. Pasteur’s quadrant. Washington, DC.: Brookings Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stone, G. D., and D. Glover. 2017. Disembedding grain: Golden Rice, the Green Revolution, and heirloom seeds in the Philippines. Agriculture and Human Values 34 (1): 87–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang, G., Y. Hu, S.-a. Yin, Y. Wang, G. E. Dallal, M. A. Grusak, and R. M. Russell. 2012. b-Carotene in Golden Rice is as good as b-carotene in oil at providing vitamin A to children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 96: 658–664.

    Google Scholar 

  • Timmermann, C., and G. F. Félix. 2015. Agroecology as a vehicle for contributive justice. Agriculture and Human Values 32: 523–538.

    Google Scholar 

  • Timmermann, C., and Z. Robaey. 2016. Agrobiodiversity under different property regimes. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 29 (2): 285–303.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uphoff, N., and A. Krishna. 2004. Civil Society and Public Sector Institutions: More than a Zero-sum Relationship. Public Administration and Development 24: 357–372.

    Google Scholar 

  • van den Belt, H. 2014. Design for Values in Agricultural Biotechnology. In Handbook of Ethics, Values, and Technological Design, ed. J. van den Hoven, P. Vermaas, and I. van de Poel, 1–15. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanloqueren, G. B., and V. Philippe. 2009. How agricultural research systems shape a technological regime that develops genetic engineering but locks out agroecological innovations. Research Policy 38: 971–983.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Schomberg, R. 2013. A Vision for Responsible Research and Innovation. In Responsible Innovation managing the responsible emergence of science and innovation in society, eds. R. Owen, J. Bessant; and M. Heintz, 51–73. London: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whyte, W. F. 1991. Participatory Action Research. In SAGE Focus Editions. Newbury Park, California: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wieczorek, A. J. 2018. Sustainability transitions in developing countries: Major insights and their implications for research and policy. Environmental Science & Policy 84: 204–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, P. 2002. The Competent Boundary Spanner. Public Administration 80 (1): 103–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Witcombe, J. R., A. Joshi, K. D. Joshi, and B. R. Sthapit. 1996. Farmer Participatory Crop Improvement: I. Varietal Selection and Breeding Methods and their impact on biodiversity. Experimental Agriculture 22: 443–460.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wong, C.-Y., and M. M. Salmin. 2016. Attaining a productive structure for technology: The Bayh–Dole effect on university–industry–government relations in developing economy. Science and Public Policy 43 (1): 29–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wynne, B. 2001. Creating Public Alienation: Expert Cultures of Risk and Ethics on GMOs. Science as Culture 4 (10): 445–481.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ye, X., S. Al-Babili, A. Kloti, J. Zhang, P. Lucca, P. Beyer, and I. Potrykus. 2000. Engineering the Provitamin A (Beta-Carotene) Biosynthetic Pathway into (Carotenoid-Free) Rice Endosperm. Science 287: 303–305.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yin, R. K. 2002. Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laxmi Prasad Pant.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pant, L.P. Responsible innovation through conscious contestation at the interface of agricultural science, policy, and civil society. Agric Hum Values 36, 183–197 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-019-09909-2

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-019-09909-2

Keywords

Navigation