The course is for master students interested in social, political, economic and environmental dimensions of agricultural innovations.
Voraussetzungen
Participants are expected to be able to read and understand English language texts, follow English teaching and be active during the discussion seminars.
Lernorganisation
- Innovations and development:
(i) Induced innovations and agricultural development
(i) Innovation diffusion and determinants of adoption
(iii) Barriers to innovation adoption,
(iv) Technology lock-ins and treadmill
- System innovations and sustainability transitions:
(i) Complex problems in agriculture and the need for sustainable innovations
(ii) Sustainability transitions and the Multi-Level Perspective
(iii) Agricultural) Innovation Systems
- Political economic considerations and governance of innovations:
(i) The role of narratives, discourses, images and hypes in innovation
(ii) Roles and functions of different actors in innovation processes
(iii) Innovation policy instruments
- Current topics on sustainable innovations from the Global North and South.
Selected theoretical, empirical, and policy-oriented studies will be emphasized to explain how the agricultural innovations systems are organized.
Leistungsnachweis
The final grade of students consists of two parts. First, the students will be asked to produce an excerpt (maximum of 200 words) of a core reading material assigned to each seminar. These excerpts contribute 50% to the final grade. The grading evaluates the content of the excerpt, namely the readability and accuracy of the description of main research question and findings of the paper.
The oral exam after the course completion counts the next 50% of the grade. For the oral exam, students should be thoroughly familiar with the core reading materials and the lectures of the selected part. A list of questions will be provided in the middle of the course. The oral exam will take between 20 to 30 minutes in English.
Studiengänge (für)
The course is open to Master students in Agrarwissenschaften, Empirische Ökonomik und Politikberatung, International Areas Studies, Management Natürlicher Ressourcen, as well as based on mutual agreement for other students interested in the topics of agricultural innovations.
SWS
4
Sonstiges
Lernziele :
=Students are able to understand and critically reflect on theories and modes of thinking pertaining to sustainable innovations and innovation processes from systemic and economic perspectives.
=Students are able to properly apply theories from sustainable innovations and innovation processes to understand real world agricultural innovation processes
=Students are able to evaluate innovation processes in a structured manner to identify innovation failures and other problems relating to adoption and diffusion.
=Students are able to develop independently ideas and concepts for addressing scientific and professional problems related to agricultural innovation
=Students are able to identify and reflect on their own potential roles in innovation processes for sustainable development.
Introductory lecture, Induced innovations, Innovation diffusion, Technology lock-in, Excerpts write-up week 1, Technology treadmill, Political economy of innovations, Roles and functions of actors in innovation processes, Agricultural innovation systems, Excerpts write-up week 2, Narratives / discourses and imaginaries about future technologies, Innovation networks and clusters, Transitions to sustainability, Wrap-up lecture, Excerpts write-up week 3, Seminar on Induced innovations, Seminar on Innovation diffusion, Seminar on Technology lock-in, Seminar on Technology treadmill, Seminar on Political economy of innovations, Seminar introduction into R and R studio, Seminar on Agricultural innovation systems, Seminar on Narratives / discourses and imaginaries, Seminar on Innovation networks and clusters, Seminar on Transitions to sustainability
The aim of the course is to equip students with skills (a) to distinguish, critique and apply theories and modes of thinking pertaining to sustainable innovations and innovation processes from systemic and economic perspectives, and (b) to analyze innovation processes and propose solutions to remedy innovation failures and address sustainability. The core aspect of the course is to increase students’ capacity in analyzing the interactions between innovations and society. The lectures will highlight and discuss the issues related to the topic by combining the systems approach, microeconomics and institutional economics.
