Unravelling interactive innovation through a stakeholder-associated risk analysis: Evidence from two case studies in Spain

Abstract

Interactive innovation is the innovation process that is co-produced by the interaction of actors, such as farmers, land managers, researchers, policy makers and consumers. It connotes complex and socio-sci-entific problems that utilize participatory methodologies to bring in diverse perspectives of stakeholders, who have control over the development and decision-making process. Most failure or information ab-sence come from insufficient communication transfer, which can result in conflicts between stakeholders, especially in projects with multi actor partnership and multidisciplinary stakeholders. Rural innovation is addressed by measuring stakeholder interactions that take place in the project. By identifying the risks in the network and the stakeholders associated to the risks, we find the underlying cause of the problem in two case studies in Spain. Results reveal that lack of communication among internal stakeholders was the main threat in both projects. Recommended action plans included establishing an effective communication strategy, establishing a well-defined terminology to avoid miscommunication among internal stake-holders and taking into account ethical and cultural differences among stakeholders to avoid mistrust. The risk analysis provides stakeholders with a holistic view over the project in knowing the location of the resources and where the problem lies. This way stakeholders can scrape out the wound.