Abstract
Scaling of innovations is a key requirement for addressing societal challenges in sectors such as health, agriculture, and the environment. Research for development (R4D) programs, projects and other interventions struggle to make particular innovations go to scale. Current conceptualizations of scaling are often too simplistic; more systemic and multidimensional perspectives, frameworks and measures are needed. There is a gap between new complexity-aware theories and perspectives on innovation, and tools and approaches that can improve strategic and operational decision-making in R4D interventions that aim to scale innovations. This paper aims to bridge that gap by developing the key concepts and measures of Scaling Readiness. Scaling Readiness is an approach that encourages critical reflection on how ready innovations are for scaling and what appropriate actions could accelerate or enhance scaling. Scaling Readiness provides action-oriented support for (1) characterizing the innovation and innovation system; (2) diagnosing the current readiness and use of innovations as a proxy for their readiness to scale; (3) developing strategy to overcome bottlenecks for scaling; (4) facilitating and negotiating multi-stakeholder innovation and scaling processes; and (5) navigating and monitoring the implementation process to allow for adaptive management. Scaling Readiness has the potential to support evidence-based scaling strategy design, implementation and monitoring, and – if applied across multiple interventions – can be used to manage a portfolio of innovation and scaling investments.
Highlights
Academic and professional interest in how innovations spread in society has long historical roots, going back to the work of Ryan and Gross (1943) and Rogers (1962) on the adoption and diffusion of innovations
The scaling of innovations is relevant to research for development (R4D) organizations that have a mandate to develop, test and validate innovations to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to demonstrate to donors that their research innovations are adopted in society to show returnon-investment (Renkow and Byerlee, 2010)
While we realize that different views may exist on what the relevant geographies, objectives and beneficiaries should be for a specific scaling initiative, the starting point of our approach is to assess the scaling readiness of innovations based on the expected goals and impacts of a specific R4D intervention (Kuehne et al, 2017; Cohen and Axelrod, 2001)
Summary
Academic and professional interest in how innovations spread in society has long historical roots, going back to the work of Ryan and Gross (1943) and Rogers (1962) on the adoption and diffusion of innovations. Scaling Readiness aims to advance and complement other tools, approaches, and frameworks by: (1) paying attention to both technological and non-technological innovations; (2) considering contextual conditions; (3) providing hands-on decision support to address scaling bottlenecks; and (4) by striking a balance between analytical complexity and practical applicability. This contribution is structured in five sections.
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