A dialogue between innovation studies of development and transition studies with an illustration from argentina’s agriculture sector

ANABEL MARIN; PATRICK VAN ZWANENBERG

Encuentro; Business, Markets and the States Cluster; 2021

A dominant perspective within the field of development economics is thatstructural change away from the industries that developing countriestraditionally specialise in, such as agriculture and mining, is necessary tosupport a broad process of development. In this paper we ask whether and howstructural change within, as well as away from, problematic industries mighthelp create more economically successful, socially just and environmentallybenign trajectories of progress. Combining insights from innovation studies ofdevelopment with ideas from socio-technical transitions studies, we analysetwo cases of alternative, potentially transformative agricultural ventures inArgentina. We explore their practices, relative to mainstream ventures, andreflect on their potential to contribute to more sustainable trajectories ofchange within and out of the mainstream agricultural sector, and the ways inwhich they can be supported to do so.