OP-1: Number of research and development innovations (Stages 1, 2 and 3)

Definition: Research and development innovations are new or significantly improved (adaptive) outputs or groups of outputs - including management practices, knowledge or technologies. Innovations could also refer to a significant research findings, methods or tools.
A significant improvement is one that allows the management practice, knowledge or technology to serve a new purpose or a new class of users to employ it, for example a new variety, a blend of fertilizer for a particular soil type, or a tool modified to suit a particular management practice.
In many circumstances, an innovation may be identical to an output, but outputs may also be grouped together as a single innovation. However, not all outputs can be deemed to be innovations.

Unit of Measure: Count

Disaggregated by: Innovation stage, innovation type, project, geographic location (national)

1. Innovation stage: Stage 1: End of research phase (discovery/proof of concept)excluding breeding and production systems research captured elsewhere); Stage 2: End of piloting phase (May not be applicable to some innovations) the wider testing of this research; and Stage 3: Availability for uptake.

2. Innovation type: Genetic (varieties and breeds), Production Systems and Management Practices, Social science, Biophysical research, Research and Communication Methodologies and Tools

Method of Calculation: Summation of the count of innovations. A technology, practice or approach should be reported each year it is actively in Phase I or Phase II. A technology, practice, or approach reported under Phase III and IV should be counted only once per project and not reported in subsequent years for the same stage of maturity.

Data sources: Program and project documents and staff

Data collection method: Document review and internal consultations

Data collection and reporting responsibility: Project leaders, Research managers (e.g. flagship and cluster leaders, CRP Program Management Unit)

Data Collection and Reporting Frequency: Continous/routine archiving of evidence on MEL as part of reporting project deliverables and capacity development reporting. Annual reporting.

Evidence required:

• Stages 1 and 2 - self-reported evidence; wherever possible, links should be provided to relevant project reports or publications.

• Stage 3 requires some documentation that demonstrates a degree of 'completeness' and 'readiness' of the innovation to be taken up, for example certification process, report or journal article outlining the innovating findings (while acknowledging the time lag it takes for journal articles to come through). Hperlinks/DOIs should be provided to the certification process, report, journal article or the like.

Rationale: This indicator is meant to measure ICARDA's development and delivery public goods through innovation in scientific excellence, knowledge generation, problem solving, expertise, and advice as well as technological packages that support the building of resilient and profitable farming systems in the global dry areas.

Comments and limitations: Innovations vary tremendously in their importance and scope, so a simple count of innovations reported may not be an accurate reflection or the relative performance of one country program/project over another. Hence, research managers should not feel under pressure to 'over-report' innovations to boost counts. The main objective of this metric is to capture significant innovations in a database, rather than to place emphasis on the numbers. It is anticipated that the mix of the quantitative and qualitative information related to this indicator can capture ICARDA's significant innovations.