Harmonizing all the key players (research, extension, farmers) in the field of agriculture for their interrelation and interaction in a virtual platform (http://krishi.gov.bd/).

Enablers required for Citizen-centric innovations

Malek, an agriculture extension officer mobilized by the government in Fulbari, Mymensingh district, had an idea of developing a pictorial database of plant diseases to help farmers communicate their problems better; Ruhul, a water management engineer, wanted to develop a complete device setup to help solve irrigation crisis for farmers especially living in regions with frequent flood and drought; Rabbit’s Hat, a local software development firm, realized how important market access was to farmer’s livelihoods and wanted to develop an integrated system to link farmers with the market.

These citizen-centric innovations which were meant to change the lives of common citizens had a few things in common like –

The innovators did not have the funds to develop a complete prototype.

The opportunity was not there to test the efficacy of the prototypes with real beneficiaries.

Challenges to the Innovation Process

The above-mentioned innovators could materialize their proposed projects using a2i Program’s Service Innovation Fund. But unfortunately, there are many unpublished concepts and unfinished prototypes out there which could not get transformed into finished usable products for primarily the following reasons:

• The innovators do not receive proper mentorship and guidance on developing their ideas and concepts into workable prototypes.

• There is no direct link between the innovators and the policymakers, as a result of which there is an information gap among the innovators about the development priorities.

• There is an inherent fear of ideas being stolen or hijacked.

• The innovators lack the means of transforming their working prototypes into a usable format ready for commercialization.

Role of Agriculture Innovation Lab+ as an Innovation Catalyst

The Agriculture Innovation Lab+ has been conceptualized and designed with this holistic approach of collaboration and co-creation to support ideation, development, enhancement, and commercialization of innovative agricultural products and services while protecting the intellectual property rights of the innovators. This will act as a platform for the different stakeholders working directly and indirectly with the agriculture sector and its beneficiaries with the ultimate objective of improving the livelihoods of farmers through solving local challenges using creative and innovative ways.

The overarching vision of the lab is to share the best practices, exchange ideas and develop similar networks to other resource-poor countries as part of South-South and global cooperation. The Agriculture Innovation Lab has already made some important partnerships, one of the most notable ones being with the Ministry of Agriculture, as a result of which its different subsidiaries can collaboratively identify the problems facing the majority of farmers and develop low-cost, available and accessible devices and technologies.