Five ideas that have changed research in the cropping sector

Innovation is now a prerequisite for institutions aiming to maintain their competitiveness in a more and more liberalized economy. This is also true for agricultural research. One of the objective of ProfiCrops, the research program Agroscope, was to promote the innovation process leading to added value in the cropping sector. This article describes five ideas, their development into innovation and the scope for the innovation’s adoption. The sampling was done purposively, based on an innovations’ list for the cropping sector. The sample comprised: three process innovations: a portable Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) tool, the sequence of the fire blight pathogen genome and the use of molecular markers, and two service innovations: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in agriculture and urban agriculture. The results show that the innovation process within research requires some scope that includes a clear research mission, sufficient financial resources, time and a risk-taking attitude.