KRIJN POPPE & PETER KEET INCENTIVES AND MONITORING THE AKIS IN THE NETHERLANDS

Wageningen University and Research centre: university, innovation driven applied research and 2 experimental stations University Utrecht – Veterinary science TNO (-Applied Food Research) Agricultural Schools (managed by Ministry of Agriculture) Extension service (privatised), agribusiness – advise and accounting offices Innovation Network (ministry), Transforum: innovation experiments and Networks (e.g. Milkacadmey) Several Institutes to support policy making (RIVM – Public Health and Environmental issues; PBL (Research on Environment and Nature management); Amsterdam University- SOW (World food system) and comparable international organisations (OECD, FAO, IFPRI etc) EU: SCAR, FP7, ERA- networks, JPI Commodity boards: co- finance Green Knowledge Coop for innovation Highly educated farmers THE AKIS IN THE NETHERLANDS

INCENTIVES FOR UNIVERSITIES Incentives for academic science at university level (how are they evaluated, what makes them happy) Funded by number of students (enrolled and graduated) Evaluated by scientific quality (especially number of papers in peer reviewed journals) Recent change: evaluation now includes the issue of valorisation How and on which criteria is money allocated to agricultural departments of universities? Historical money flow Number of students enrolled and graduated Within the university: based on the ‘chair group plan’ by the rector, guided by the strategic planning (to be checked for details –PK)

INCENTIVES FOR APPLIED RESEARCH Incentives for applied research, e.g. state research institutes (how are they evaluated, what makes them happy) strategic research: government funding at program-level Innovation research programs, statutory tasks, policy oriented research: project funding Funding from other funds (commodity boards, other governments, EU, private companies) Content of research: innovation driven research questions (innovation linked to public issues). On which criteria is money allocated to these institutes? Based on content (which research is needed), in the form of a subsidy for a project; hardly any open tendering / competitive bidding.

INCENTIVES FOR EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS Incentives for experimental stations (how are they evaluated, what makes them happy) Same as and integrated with strategic / applied research

INCENTIVES FOR EXTENSION Incentives for the extension service (how are they evaluated, what makes them happy) No state influence: these are private companies Execution of Farm Advisory System CAP via vouchers? Some extension programs on public issues (like environmental programs) have in the past been paid by the Ministry (current status to be checked –PK ?) For extension organisations and accounting organisations the driver is profit from advice. Trust with the client plays an important role For agri-business companies extension is linked with the supply or buying of products. Often implicit in the product price On which criteria is money allocated to agricultural extension? Not relevant

INCENTIVES FOR AG. EDUCATION Incentives for the agricultural schools (how are they evaluated, what makes them happy) Number of students enrolled / intake Number of students graduated And as a consequence: new types of studies (must be accredited) On which criteria is money allocated to agricultural schools? Historical money flows Number of students entering the schools Number of students that graduate

ARE INCENTIVES COHERENT? Are there incentives for cooperation between the subsystems mentioned in previous slides? Research projects in applied research can spent 10% of the budget on dissemination and communication. Some innovation driven research is managed / coordinated with independent taskforces (like on Organics, Multifunctional agriculture) The Green Knowledge Cooperative has a budget to link education institutes and to link with research Innovation Network (and Transform) link innovative ideas, entrepreneurs and knowledge institutes in specific innovation projects

ARE INCENTIVES COHERENT? Could you reflect on the coherence of the incentive system in the AKIS for the different players – are incentives contributing to innovation? to cooperation between the different players? There is no clear incentive system for cooperation in the innovation-network. That it happens is due to: Management of content / topics: the national agenda Proximity and mutual benefits of cooperation Special institutional coordination initiatives (Taskforces, Innovation Network, Green Knowledge Cooperative) and knowledge networks (like Milk Academy, Fisheries Innovation Platform) in coordination with applied /experimental research

ARE INCENTIVES COHERENT? Has your country made changes in the incentive system in recent years, and why? Have these changes been evaluated? There have been no institutional changes in the AKIS since the forming of WUR in 1998 Some (temporary) coordination mechanisms and incentives like Green Knowledge Cooperative, Transforum, Taskforces have been added New incentives via innovation schemes like SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research), “Frontrunners-window” (for complaints on innovation-blocking regulation) Some changes (like creation of Wageningen UR) have been evaluated (positively)

MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF AKIS POLICY Which indicators are used to monitor the AKIS ? provide the indicators and statistics that were included in policy documents in the last years dealing with AKIS Compared to other policy domains, there is relatively little monitoring and evaluation of the knowledge and innovation policy (Twijnstra & Gudde, 2010) Usage of the knowledge generated is measured yearly Main indicators: Budgets Evaluation reports university / institutes Innovation monitoring at farm level (included in FADN) Innovation food industry: R&D input, Doing business, Foreign Direct Investment, % new products, patents, labour productivity, sustainability monitoring

MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF AKIS POLICY Do you report to your parliament the performance of your AKIS ? There is no special reporting on the state of the AKIS in a (bi- )annual report, as is done for some other policy domains to provide basic information to parliament From time to time there are policy reviews or evaluations that are provided to parliament Of course there is information on the AKIS and its cost in the yearly budget.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF AKIS POLICY AT EU LEVEL Any ideas for an outline of an AKIS monitoring system at EU level? There is a European role, but limited – there is not a European AKIS, it are regional ones. Objective of EU monitoring system should be clear: benchmarking for MS or social learning in transition at EU level for policy development or ??? We should not go into obliged reporting but towards a common understanding and learning – link with research projects >> do we need a SCAR cwg or ERA network “Knowledge management for innovation policies”? With attention to R&D input, AKIS organisation, smart specialisation in topics of innovation and benchmark innovation performance Should include the food industry and rural development/social innovation