Multi-stakeholder deliberation on dialectical divides: an operational principle of the systems of innovation

Abstract

The contemporary knowledge society encompasses actors from the public, non-profit private, for-profit private and informal sectors. This paper investigates three types of public-private partnerships (PPP) from the perspective of Systems of Innovation (SoI) as it applies to developing countries: the first type as the public and non-profit private partnership; the second as the public and for-profit private partnership; and the third as the tripartite partnership of the public, non-profit private and for-profit private sectors. In the first type of partnership, stakeholders usually advocate pro-poor and pro-environmental innovation, and in the second type these goals may be overlooked by an emphasis on pro-market innovation. However, the third type is a marriage of non-profit and profit-oriented innovations for improving food security, reducing poverty and ensuring environmental sustainability. Although the tripartite partnership aims to bridge some of the knowledge divides, its operational principles to deal with the divides are not yet clear. This paper argues that multi-stakeholder deliberation on ?dialectical divides? such as flexible and rigid working styles, institutional and competitive funding, corporate interest and social responsibility, and public and private good nature of knowledge contribute towards a smoother maintenance and, if necessary, natural dissolution of relationships in agricultural research and development.