Análisis de los casos estudiados desde las perspectivas del Balanced Scorecard

ADANELLA ROSSI1,ELENA FAVILLI2,GIANLUCA BRUNORI3 1 _{Dept. Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Italy; [email protected]}

2 _{Dept. Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Italy; [email protected]} 3 _{Dept. Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Italy; [email protected]} Key words: learning networks, social innovation, sustainable food systems, transition

Summary: The transition of food systems towards sustainability entails complex changes, involving multiple actors and fields of action. The paper draws on the analyses conducted during the EU project SOLINSA, concerning the role of learning and innovation networks as drivers of transition in agriculture and rural development. Within the conceptual framework provided by transition theories, it proposes the case study of a hybrid network developed around organic farming and, more generally, sustainability issues, in Tuscany (Italy). It focuses on the social learning processes and governance mechanisms underlying the development and spread of innovation, highlighting potentials and challenges.On processes of innovation towards sustainable food systems

The need for a transition towards more sustainable food systems is widely acknowledged. This process is complex and sees the co-presence and interrelation of multiple dimensions, from technological and organizational to cultural, institutional and juridical aspects, at all the levels of the system. According to transition theories (Geels 2004), it requires a redefinition of the whole socio-technical system underlying food production and consumption practices, that is a re-organization of systems of knowledge, rules and norms of behaviour, and a re-design of the organisational and material infrastructures involved from production to consumption practices. A multiplicity of actors are increasingly involved in promoting and driving this process of innovation: farmers and other rural entrepreneurs, chain actors, end users, researchers and advisors, policy makers and public administrators, NGOs and civil society organizations. As multi-dimensional and multi-actors process the transition to sustainability thus appears to involve multiple fields of action, types of knowledge, perspectives and interests, including the pursuit both of public and private goods.

To tackle this complexity researchers and practitioners have increasingly adopted a systemic perspective, focusing on the dynamics of interaction between the diverse actors and the diverse forms of learning, with reference to a contextualised dimension (Knickel et al., 2009). Among the others, the EU research project SOLINSA (7FP, ended in January 2014) focused on the potential of these hybrid networks (Learning and Innovation Networks for Sustainable Agriculture – LINSA), considered as innovative forms of relationship and learning, that can meet the challenge of sustainability (Brunori et al. 2013). In the context of the new EU policies for innovation, the project proposed this concept as policy device to support farmers and rural actors in generating innovations for transition (Moschitz et al. 2014).

Interactions and social learning processes developing within multi-actor relational environments are thus central to innovation for sustainability. The new frames of common understanding that result from them generate shared knowledge that, translated into new attitudes and practices, allows a coherent re-configuration of all the components of the system.

The effectiveness of learning processes in giving rise to innovative ways of thinking and practices as well as the potential of the networks to spread their innovation, so as to have some influence on the mainstream system, are strongly conditioned by the quality of the interactions inside and outside these networks, that is by the governance modes (Rossi et al., 2014). The role of governance is particularly significant into a perspective of pursuit of public goods. To meet the new demands of environmental and social sustainability, the co-ordination of interests, institutional cultures, and often conflicting perspectives within the multi-actor and multi-dimensional environments of innovation appears crucial. They become the spaces where shared knowledge and competences can lead to collective vision, coherent practices and new collaborative arrangements amongst the different societal and institutional actors involved.

From the perspective of transition theories, the ‘cross-boundary interactions’ which develop amongst these different actors / fields of activity and the related learning processes are important in the re-configuration of socio-technical systems. In this regard, both within the network relational dynamics and in their interaction with the ‘outside’, the presence of boundary and intermediary actors play a key role (Howells 2006). The SOLINSA project called these actors ‘transition partners’ (Moschitz et al., 2014).

The experience of a learning and innovation network: the Crisoperla Association

Drawing on the theoretical reflections and the research conducted within the project SOLINSA, this paper aims to contribute to the understanding of these processes through the insights derived from one of the two case studies carried out by the Italian team. It analyses the experience of the Association Crisoperla, located between Tuscany and Liguria, in Italy. Born around the common desire to enhance organic farming, it has gradually embraced broader goals of promoting social and environmental sustainability in lifestyles and development patterns. Over this process Its network has grown in number and types of actors and in fields of activity. The members include organic farmers, social farming and fishermen cooperatives, consumers’ groups (Solidarity - based Purchase groups, GAS) other consumers’ associations, technicians. It does not include public actors, but it is increasingly interacting with some local administrations. The Association has moreover begun to interact with other local organizations as well as outside the two regions of origin, by establishing relationships with organisations for organic farming, at national and international level, and with organizations engaged in the area of ‘solidarity economy’ in Italy.

The case study aimed at deepening the social learning and governance mechanisms underlying the development of new attitudes and practices within this network and its effort to spread this innovation in the local context. The main goal was the identification of strengths/weaknesses and of the most suitable forms of support. The following are the main findings.

The growth of the network, its articulation with relation to the various fields of interest developed (farming, marketing, education, cultural animation, political activism), its hybridization through the gradual opening up to new relationships and, thus, to new attitudes, knowledge and practices are read as an integral part of the development of the innovation process. Social learning takes place in these relational spaces: the collaboration among farmers and between these and technicians; the interaction between producers and concerned consumers and, more generally, civil society; the encounter between food practices and other areas of social mobilization and citizenship; the new forms of interaction between new food networks and public institutions. Within them, peer-to-peer exchanges of knowledge and integration of different sources lead to the creation of new shared knowledge. The reframing process is central in this regard. By adhering to new frames of reference the actors develop common visions, define priorities and shared goals, fine-tune languages and modes of action to meet them (Brunori et al., 2012). The ‘boundary work’ around specific objects proves to be crucial to these processes. Starting from cooperating on organic farming, actors have developed interaction and cohesion around other issues, such as food quality, GMOs, land consumption and access to land, consumers’ education, sustainability of patterns of socio-economic development.

The network thus develops the co-learning processes inside, through the interaction amongst the members of the Association, as well as by interacting with the outside, at territorial level, where the Association wants to put pressure on public institutions, other organizations and public opinion to promote changes. As important are the relationships established at broader level (regional, national), where the Association finds new spurs to learn and opportunities for action. To analyze the role of the mechanisms of governance that regulate the interactions internally and externally we take into consideration aspects that characterize the internal organization, such as quality of social relations, sense of community, inclusiveness, leadership balance, level of formalization, decision-making mechanisms, kind of management, infrastructures and forms of communication, presence of intermediary functions (Rossi et al., 2014). The last aspects prove to be extremely significant to allow an effective interaction between the internal different systems of knowledge, resources and practices, but appear also critical in the interaction with the outside, in the socio-cultural and political environments in which the network tries to induce changes.

The case study, together with the whole SOLINSA research activity, thus provides useful information on the mechanisms, the potentials and the challenges that characterize the processes of innovation towards sustainability driven by hybrid networks. This appears important to fine-tune effective forms of support. It emerges in that regard as the main needs concern the improvement of the network building capacity and of the internal management, through suitable governance mechanisms; the enhancement of the related learning processes, strongly based on peer-to-peers exchange and on boundary works; the development of collective strategic and planning capacities; the possibility to realize exchanges with other similar experiences; the presence of favourable external governance environment where the networks can express their potential. In the new context of EU policy for innovation these indications appear particularly significant.

References

Brunori, G., Barjolle, D., Dockes, A.C., Helmle, S., Ingram, J., Klerkx, L., Moschitz, H., Nemes, G. and Tisenkopfs, T., 2013. CAP Reform and Innovation: The Role of Learning and Innovation Networks. EuroChoices, 12(2).

Brunori, G., Rossi, A. and Favilli, E., 2012. Co-producing alternative system of knowledge and practices around food. The case of Crisoperla, a learning network., paper presented to the International Conference ‘Multifunctional Agriculture and Urban-Rural Relations: Agriculture in an Urbanizing Society’ (1-4 Aprile 2012, Wageningen, NL).

Geels, F., 2004. From Sectoral Systems of Innovation to Socio-technical Systems. Insights About Dynamics and Change From Sociology and Institutional Theory. Research Policy, 33, pp.897–920.

Howells, J., 2006.Intermediation and The Role of Intermediaries in Innovation. Research Policy 35 (5), pp.715-728.

Knickel, K., G. Brunori, S. Rand, and Proost, J., 2009. Towards a Better Conceptual Framework for Innovation Processes in Agriculture and Rural Development: From Linear Models to Systemic Approaches. Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 15(2), pp.131-146.

Moschitz H., Tisenkopf , T., Brunori, G., Home, R., Kunda, I. and Sumane, S., 2014. SOLINSA – WP8 Final Report - Learning and Innovation Network for Sustainable Agriculture Deliverable 8.2 SOLINSA Project.

Rossi, A., Favilli, E. and Nemes, G., 2014. Governance and innovation networks - within and across boundaries., SOLINSA dissemination product, forthcoming on Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension.

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Session D Oral presentation