Speeding up innovation in agricultural IT

• Main Author: Hannu E.S. Haapala
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: PAGEPress Publications 2013-09-01
• Series: Journal of Agricultural Engineering
• Subjects: innovation, agriculture, IT, User-Centered Design.
• Online Access: http://www.agroengineering.org/index.php/jae/article/view/268

An OECD funded research was conducted where methods and processes for speeding up innovation in agriculture were assessed. A global web-based questionnaire was sent to experts in agricultural engineering, research, marketing, education and users of new technologies. Interviews of selected experts were done to deepen the analysis. The results show that considerable part of the relatively slow innovation comes from the fact that users do not trust in new technologies or that the usability of them is unacceptable. 􀀀The experts suggest that education of the engineers and designers should include more elements from User-Centered Design (UCD) and also User-Driven Innovation methods should be more used. As a conclusion a new ‘Dream Team’ of agricultural innovation was developed where user interaction and marketing professionals were given more roles.