Advisory services within national AKIS - concepts and empirical evidence from selected EU member states

Publication Type

Book chapter

Authors

Knierim, A., Boenning, K., Caggiano, M., Cristóvão, A., Dirimanova, V., Koehnen, T., Labarthe, P., Prager, K.

Year of publication

2014

Page (from - to)

153-165

Conference name

11th European IFSA Symposium

Conference location

Berlin

Conference date

1-4 April 2014

Keywords

Europa

Recently, Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation resp. Information Systems (AKIS) have gained considerable attention in scientific and political fora in the EU. AKIS is considered a key concept to identify, analyse and assess the various actors as well as their communication and interaction performances for innovation processes in the agricultural sector. Through qualitative expert interviews and with the help of institutional mapping, the national AKIS, and especially the role(s) and functions of advisory services as one major actor within these systems, were in-vestigated in selected EU member states (BG, DE, F, IRL, PT and UK). We present the varied national conceptions of AKIS and compare them qualitatively with regard to their institutional settings, and their overall policy frameworks and coordinating structures. Specific attention is given to agricultural advisory services and their integration within the respective national or country-wide AKIS. Conclusions are drawn with regard to the practiced conceptual and the methodological approach towards AKIS.