Institutional architecture for grassroots innovations: a case of Hua County, China

Abstract

In the context of growing disenchantment with modern technologies in agriculture, it is often argued that the grassroots innovations play a significant role in rural development in general and improving agricultural productivity and incomes of farmers in particular. But our understanding on the institutional architecture needed for promoting grassroots innovations in developing countries like China at best remain rudimentary. The present paper address this issue by an analysis of the institutional arrangements evolved overtime for the promotion of GRIs in Hua County and its outcomes in terms of increased number of patents and their commercialisation. The study highlights the constructive role of the triad of governance, the CPPCC, along with the CPC and the government in the observed performance in the sphere of GRIs. The case study also shows that there is a fourth pillar in the institutional architecture for the promotion of GRIs. This is manifested in the formation of the Association of Inventors as an NGO nurtured by the Government. The analysis in the paper therefore, highlights the significant role of institutions in general as well as the co-evolution of institutions with changing environment to promote innovations and their commercialisation.