The CODECS project is pleased to announce the release of its policy brief on “The Role of AKIS in Digital Ecosystems.” This document was developed by a team led by Pierre Labarthe (INRAE) and involves contributors from across the 33-partner consortium. This brief provides critical evidence for the project’s goal of building digital ecosystems that maximise the net benefits of technology.
Understanding AKIS in a digital world
Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) are representations of the actors, relations, and institutions involved in exchanging knowledge within the agricultural sector. While AKIS policies are central to the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2023-2027, they are complex and often perceived differently by various stakeholders.
The policy brief highlights a significant discrepancy between “top-down” perspectives (found in expert reports and policy documents) and “bottom-up” realities experienced by farmers and participants in CODECS Living Labs.
Key findings: the rising role of private firms
The research, which drew on workshops with 19 CODECS Living Labs across Europe, reveals that traditional AKIS descriptions often focus on “classical” actors like public extension services and farmers’ organisations. However, bottom-up evidence shows that private firms (including AgTech start-ups and IT companies) play an increasingly prominent role in digital ecosystems.
The study identified three distinct perceptions of AKIS across Europe:
- Firm-led: common in countries like Belgium and Spain, where private companies are the primary actors in the digital ecosystem.
- Policy-driven: observed in several Eastern European countries, where AKIS is seen primarily as a public policy instrument.
- Pluralistic: found in countries like Germany and France, where there is a more balanced mix of public and private actors.
The challenge for innovation intermediaries
The brief also examines innovation intermediaries, meaning the actors who bridge science and practice. It identifies a potential segmentation in the support system: while some intermediaries are well-integrated into EU policy frameworks to test and co-design new tools, the actors who provide day-to-day advice to farmers are often the most distant from these official policy networks.
Recommendations for sustainable digitalisation
To ensure that digitalisation leads to truly sustainable and transformative change, the authors propose several key actions:
- Acknowledge private actors: Public policies should better address and debate the central role that private firms now play in agricultural knowledge flows.
- Empower bottom-up perspectives: Policy arenas where AKIS strategies are designed should give a stronger voice to the daily realities and networks of farmers.
- Foster collaborative approaches: Successful innovation requires a collaborative model that transcends traditional public-private divides.
This policy brief serves as a vital tool for the CODECS project’s mission to develop a vision of “sustainable digitalisation” that is grounded in the real-world practices of European farmers.
For more detailed information, the full policy brief is available on the CODECS website at https://www.horizoncodecs.eu/policybriefs/.
