System Failures in the Implementation of the EIP-AGRI Interactive Innovation Approach in Bulgarian Agricultural Policy

Svetla Stoeva Dona Pickard

Abstract: The paper critically examines the capacity of Bulgarian agricultural policy to implement the EIP-AGRI interactive innovation approach within the national innovation system (NIS). Applying System Innovation approach (SI) and through the lens of the system failures concept it 1) analyses the national policy context in support of interactive innovations; 2) reflects on the top-down programing of the EIP measure within the Bulgarian RDP 2014–2020; 3) reviews the AKIS actors’ bottom-up understandings of interactive innovation and 4) reflects on the results from a case study of interactive innovation partnership that was not funded by a national innovation support mechanism (OPIC), however proved to be successful and sustainable. The main assumption is that the Bulgarian agricultural policy, including through the national Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, has low potential to address the limited cooperation and knowledge transfer among science, farms and other institutions involved in the innovative process.

Keywords: agriculture; EIP-AGRI; interactive innovation approach; national innovation policy; national innovation system

Date published: 2021-01-04