Abstract
This article explores the relation between innovation and resources that are governed as commons by looking at the governance of potato genetic resources, especially in the context of the emergence of hybrid diploid potato breeding that will enable potato propagation through true seeds. As a new breeding tool, hybrid diploid potato breeding may not only revolutionize traditional potato breeding practices, it may also strongly affect current governance modes of potato genetic resources as a commons. Contrary to conventional accounts of the commons that treat technological innovation mainly as an exogenous factor, we argue that technological innovation can better be understood as an endogenous factor. In particular, we develop a co-production framework of innovation and the commons that draws attention to the different ways in which innovation, commons and its governance interact. Using this framework, we demonstrate that the constitution of potato genetic resources as a commons cannot be understood without considering the various ways in which technological innovation affects resources and mediate how these are governed. While reversely, technological innovations themselves are also enabled and constrained by users who govern potato genetic resources as a shared resource. We argue that changes in the governance of genetic resources can be understood as a change from one socio-technical constellation to another, whereby innovations, resources, and institutions are continuously co-produced.
Highlights
Introduction and backgroundThe governance of resources as commons is increasingly recognized as a feasible alternative to modes of resource governance characterized by dominating top-down governmental control or private ownership
Four research questions have guided us in this case study (Sects. 4.1–4.4): 1. How are potato genetic resources being governed in the Netherlands? To what extent and in what ways are these resources made available and accessible as a commons?
Under the In Trust Agreements (ITAs) on acquisition and distribution of germplasm by institutes of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), actors around the world can freely access genetic material held in international gene banks (Byerlee and Dubin 2010)
Summary
Introduction and backgroundThe governance of resources as commons is increasingly recognized as a feasible alternative to modes of resource governance characterized by dominating top-down governmental control or private ownership. Since the late 1980s, a burgeoning body of literature has emerged demonstrating the success and versatility of community governance of the commons The relation between the commons and innovation. This article explores the relation between the governance of the commons and innovation by looking at potato genetic resources—a genetic resource that is key in potato innovation. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the world’s most important food crops. Hailing from the Andes, potato is currently the fifth-largest crop in the world in production volume, after sugarcane, maize, wheat, and rice (FAO 2015), and is widely expected to gain an even more important role in the world’s food supply thanks to its relatively healthy nutrient content, low water need, and its rather easy cultivation (Haverkort and Struik 2015). In the context of food security and the pursuit to realize the UN
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