Building on the positive: an actor innovation systems approach to finding and promoting pro poor natural resources institutional and technical innovations

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This paper argues that if policies and programmes for the promotion of rural and agricultural technological and institutional innovations are restricted to the framework of the linear 'pipeline' model of R&D and extension, then many opportunities for reducing rural poverty and improving social inclusion in a cost-effective way will be missed. The paper argues that a holistic 'actor innovations systems' approach is a more useful framework for understanding past innovation and diffusion processes and for planning purposes. In particular, the innovations systems framework can be used to find and understand local and national 'positive deviance' situations where pro-poor innovation processes are already taking place, and it can provide a framework for building on these experiences.