AcceSS
As a Sahelian country, Burkina Faso faces many challenges, the resolution of which requires, in particular, investments in vocational training, technological innovation, skills and the development of an entrepreneurial spirit to promote autonomous dynamics of development (United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel, May 2018).
The CDAIS project (2015-2019) has strengthened capacities to innovate to two levels of the national agricultural innovation system: at the political level and at the level of initiators of innovative projects in three key areas (digital agriculture, agroecology and agrifood processing).
Based on this pilot experience, the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation (MESRSI) wished, at through the National Center for Scientific and Technological Research (CNRST) continue efforts in a second phase. This is centered on capacity building; organizations providing support services to innovators and on the promotion of open and responsible innovation within research institutions, in conjunction with incubation and professional training players.
At the political level, it involves supporting the operationalization of the national strategy for innovation in the agricultural sector and contributing to the national support roadmap for the 2030 agenda for transforming food systems.
The AcceSS project supports, on the one hand, the establishment of localized ecosystems of support services in innovation (SSI) in three priority areas (agri-food processing, agro-ecology, and digital agriculture) and on the other hand the establishment of mechanisms for alignment between research, incubation, agricultural advice and vocational training, via a platform of service providers and new policy instruments on financing innovation.
The activities of the AcceSS project relate to:
- the production of knowledge on the functioning of the national innovation system, on the state of existing support services and their capacity building needs, on the support needs of innovators;
- the use of this knowledge in workshops to design actions and support methodologies for innovators and support service providers;
- the organization of training for support professionals; innovation and the design of training guides;
- the organization of support activities “” demand” innovators and support service providers;
- the organization of networking events and exchanges between support actors; innovation ;
- the creation of coordination mechanisms between support service providers in given areas of innovation;
- supports at; policy dialogue on instruments for supporting and financing agricultural innovation.
AcceSS aims to make the national agricultural innovation system more efficient by deploying and sustaining support services for agriculture; agricultural innovation, such as support for creativity, to inter-organizational collaboration, àgrave; incubation of innovative entrepreneurs, support for the experiment, to evaluation or even access to financing adapted to the different phases of an innovation process.
It’s about introducing new ways to support innovation that promote open and responsible innovation. This means enabling the identification of promising initiatives facilitating multi-stakeholder innovation partnerships involving public, private and international sectors. and society civil. The idea is to put the needs of end users back at the center of innovation design processes, while addressing issues of ethics, inclusion and anticipation of the innovations developed, in explicit connection with transformation trajectories of agri-food systems.
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