Inserting co-innovation into research translation: experiences from the VALERIE project Julie Ingram 1 , Pete Gaskell 1 , Jane Mills 1 , Janet Dwyer 1 , Pieter de Wolf 2 1 Countryside and Community Research Institute, UK 2 DLO, Wageningen University, Netherlands [The authors would like to acknowledge the valuable contributions from the case study partners, the case study stakeholders and project partners of the VALERIE project] Keywords: research translation, co-innovation, reflection, arable farmers, supply chain Abstract Although innovation is understood to encompass much more than R&D, science continues to be an essential ingredient. In particular translation, adaptation and ‘valorisation’ of research results, the responsiveness of research to users’ needs and improved access to results are all regarded as important in achieving a more sustainable European agriculture. These challenges can be addressed in a number of ways including increased collaboration, networking, transdisciplinary research and co-operation between researchers and practitioners. From a theoretical and practical perspective such approaches often involve inserting elements of co-innovation into the traditional science-driven model. Whilst a number of studies have examined the processes entailed in co-innovation, such as co-reflection, learning, reflexivity, and co-creation of knowledge, less attention has been paid to integrating co-innovation processes into the translation of existing scientific research outputs. This paper examines this topic within VALERIE, a project using an iterative stakeholder-driven methodology to create an effective retrieval facility for science-driven research outputs. Specifically the paper aims to understand the interplay between users’ identification and articulation of research needs and providers’ matching of these needs. The evolving methodology provides useful insights into the process of, and highlights some challenges associated with, integrating co-learning and research outreach. 1. Introduction Although innovation is understood to encompass much more than R&D, science continues to be an essential ingredient, as international, EU, and national level policies reiterate (OECD, 2010). These argue that there is a compelling need for research 1 to play a significant role in meeting the innovation challenges of increased demand for food balanced against the need to deliver other ecosystem services. If this role is to be fulfilled, provision needs to be made for outreach and translation of research to enable effective deployment of innovative research, as an essential part of the process. How the innovation process operates has been the subject of much scholarship in which two broadly distinctive models of innovation have been described: linear science-driven research and interactive innovation-driven research (EU, 2012; Klerkx et al., 2012). The science-driven model is largely a linear process, characterised by publicly- funded research and carried out by research organisations with little involvement of users, where outputs are judged on scientific quality; while in the interactive model, framed within innovation systems thinking, innovation is a collective process combining knowledge from many different sources, using networks of 1 Whilst it is acknowledged that ‘research’ can refer to outputs from a number of sources in a number of different forms, here the term is used to denote the formal scientific process, which produces scientific information as scientific literature, reports etc.