From 25-31 May, Nairobi was host to a ‘Week on Agricultural Innovation in Africa.’ Here ILRI’s Jo Cadilhon reflects on the International workshop on agricultural innovation systems in Africa held as part of the week. The meeting was co-organized by FARA, ILRI, CCAFS, KARI, JOLISAA, the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture, Wageningen University, Prolinnova, the World Bank, Australian Aid and CIRAD.

The first lesson I have learned from my participation in this meeting: we are not alone! Since I’ve joined ILRI nine months ago, I have been hearing a somewhat defensive discourse from colleagues involved in innovation platforms. The refrain goes something like this: ILRI has been at the forefront of promoting the use of innovation platforms to integrate complex social systems into agricultural research for development; if ILRI stops working on innovation platforms, it is a science beacon…