Innovation intermediaries, knowledge infrastructure and technological opportunities in emerging markets: the case of research and technological centers in the Colombian agricultural sector

Innovation literature has identified innovation intermediaries as essential actors in the innovation process that intermediate knowledge between the sources and users of innovation. Our research investigates how intermediaries strengthen less mature innovation systems in emerging economies by integrating the supply and demand of knowledge in agriculture through building knowledge infrastructures. We argue that these organizations become essential sources of technological opportunities in natural resource industries by nurturing less mature innovation systems and creating knowledge infrastructure. Our analysis of a subset of innovation intermediaries, fifteen Research and Technology Organizations in the Colombian agricultural sector, help to explain how these organizations fulfil their role of generating and disseminating scientific and technological knowledge. We highlight the importance of private and public funding, focalized public policy, and national and international collaboration to foster intermediaries’ research and development capabilities.