eChallenges e-2009 Conference Proceedings Paul Cunningham and Miriam Cunningham (Eds) IIMC International Information Management Corporation, 2009 ISBN: 978-1-905824-13-7 Living Lab “Information Management in Agri-Food Supply Chain Networks” Marco VERLOOP 1 , Sjaak WOLFERT 1 , Adrie BEULENS 2 1 LEI Wageningen UR, P.O. Box 29703, The Hague, 2502 LS, The Netherlands Tel: +31 317 484732 / 485939, Fax: + 31 70 3615624 Email: marco.verloop@wur.nl , sjaak.wolfert@wur.nl 2 Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8130, Wageningen, 6700 EW, The Netherlands Tel: +31 317 484460, Fax: + 31 317 485646, Email: adrie.beulens@wur.nl Abstract: Driven by various needs of consumers and society, information exchange increasingly becomes a critical issue in agri-food supply chain networks (AFSCN). Interoperability between information systems is therefore required. This issue was dealt with in several pilot projects in the Netherlands, mainly part of a larger RTD program called KodA. Business process management and service-oriented architecture were basic technical concepts. User involvement and practice-embedded solutions were important conditions. This links up with the living lab approach that is emerging in Europe since 2006. This paper describes how a structural living lab environment on information management in AFSCN was derived from different practical pilot projects. It is concluded that the living lab approach is suitable for solving information integration problems in AFSCN, but it requires human and organisational changes in attitudes and institutions. Future developments should also be embedded in European and international developments. 1. Introduction The business environment of agri-food production is very dynamic, driven by various and changing needs of consumers and society. Production is becoming more demand-driven, has to be transparent and must meet quality and environmental standards. Several incidents in the last decades (e.g. foot and mouth disease, swine fever, dioxin scandals) have made food safety one of the major issues. Meeting these requirements gives actors in the supply chain a ‘license to produce’. Additionally, agricultural markets in Western Europe are under pressure because of high land and labour prices in combination with intensified competition due to globalization. One main answer to this development is to innovate towards a more demand-driven and knowledge-based production, producing high-grade products. This requires application of ‘state-of-the-art’ knowledge and involvement of research and technology institutes in innovation. Accurate information exchange between the various involved stakeholders plays a crucial role. Interoperability between different information systems should guarantee smooth information integration. In previous papers [1, 2] we identified several main challenges related with this problem. On the one hand, these challenges referred to technical issues such as use of standards, related to the concepts of service-oriented architecture (SOA) and business process management (BPM). On the other hand, they emphasized the organizational issues: how to organize broad commitment and embed developments in sustainable institutional arrangements and let the architecture and infrastructure grow incrementally? In several pilot projects these challenges were elaborated. It was emphasized by the stakeholders of the projects that they wanted to be closely involved and that it should result in workable solutions that could be directly used in practice. At the same time, the government, which was mostly co-financing these projects, wanted to have a structural new method for Copyright © 2009 The Authors www.eChallenges.org Page 1 of 8