Designing a research agenda for coupled innovation towards sustainable agrifood systems

Abstract

CONTEXTResearchers studying agriculture and researchers studying food share common interests in working on the sustainability of agrifood systems. Yet, they form two distinct scientific communities, which often struggle to work together due to both scientific specialization and existing disconnections between agriculture and food production standards. However, there is today a crucial need for research to generate new knowledge and innovations to meet the numerous challenges towards sustainable agrifood systems. OBJECTIVEThis paper therefore presents how two scientific communities (those of agriculture and food) collectively explored cross-community research topics, which could foster coupled innovation in agrifood systems. METHODSTwo innovative design methods - KCP and matching-building – were combined to propose a dedicated design process fostering this collective exploration of cross-community research topics. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSTwenty cross-community priority research topics were thus proposed to address various sustainability challenges. These topics were designed to become common purposes for future research collaborations aiming to produce relevant knowledge to open new avenues for coupled innovation towards more sustainable agrifood systems. The originality of the 20 topics was discussed, in comparison with 25 international papers highlighting research priorities regarding food systems. SIGNIFICANCEThe originality of the paper is thus twofold: the article details the original dedicated design method used to build cross-community research topics, and presents the 20 research topics designed using this method.