Towards new modes of governance of the research–development continuum to facilitate the dissemination of agricultural innovations in a mountainous province of northern Vietnam

The mountainous regions of northern Vietnam have, thus far, failed to share the impressive economic development that has blessed the rest of the country in the past decade. Despite the multiplicity of Research and Development (R&D) projects working there with the common objectives of agricultural development and poverty alleviation, lack of coordination among projects can limit the effectiveness of development actions beyond the original place they were carried out. Moving from experimental development projects to actual implementation of results on a large scale requires defining mechanisms for better coordination among R&D projects and testing them in a real development context. Since 2000, a collective of R&D projects has developed such an approach in Bac Kan Province. It involves both organisational and technical aspects such as the management of databases, the testing of innovation, the provision of decision support aid for the diffusion of innovation, and the formulation of development policies.