Innovation intermediaries, knowledge infrastructure and technological opportunities in emerging markets: the case of research and technological centers in the Colombian agricultural sector

ABSTRACT

Innovation literature has identified innovation intermediaries as essential actors in the innovation process that intermediate knowledge between the sources and users of innovation. Our research investigates how intermediaries strengthen less mature innovation systems in emerging economies by integrating the supply and demand of knowledge in agriculture through building knowledge infrastructures. We argue that these organizations become essential sources of technological opportunities in natural resource industries by nurturing less mature innovation systems and creating knowledge infrastructure. Our analysis of a subset of innovation intermediaries, fifteen Research and Technology Organizations in the Colombian agricultural sector, help to explain how these organizations fulfil their role of generating and disseminating scientific and technological knowledge. We highlight the importance of private and public funding, focalized public policy, and national and international collaboration to foster intermediaries’ research and development capabilities.

KEYWORDS:

• Innovation intermediaries
• technological opportunities
• research and technological centres
• emerging economies
• Colombian agricultural sector

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the financial support to this research from the Research and Development Office of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana – Cali and the Ministerio Colombiano de Ciencia, Tecnología e innovación. We also thank the funding of this research by Dirección General de Investigaciones of Universidad Santiago de Cali under call No. 01-2022. And finally, to Leonardo Alvarez for providing language help.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Except for Cipav, which established collaboration ties mainly with the Valle University.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministerio Colombiano de Ciencia y Tecnología [grant number: 198-2020]; Pontificia Universidad Javeriana [grant number: 020200688].