Both innovation systems and systems innovation share a systems mindset, networked action, and continuous learning. Sectoral innovation systems (in agriculture, health, energy, or technology) offer practical ways to map actors, build capabilities, and strengthen performance. Systems innovation builds on this base to pursue deeper, cross-sector transformation on complex societal challenges. The two are complementary: innovation systems provide the infrastructure and learning; systems innovation points that machinery toward societal transformation.
Innovation systems help identify, design, and implement strategies that strengthen collaboration, drive innovation, and support equitable growth. The term is common in agriculture—e.g., Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) and Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS)—but the ideas apply across sectors such as health, climate, business, and technology.
Alongside this, systems innovation focuses on shifting whole systems—aligning portfolios of experiments, policy mixes, finance, data and participation so change can cascade beyond individual projects. It complements innovation-systems thinking by aiming at transformation, not just improvement of parts.
In both cases, innovation emerges through interactions among diverse actors, so knowledge sharing, social learning, facilitation, and adaptive learning sit at the core. Below you’ll find resources for both innovation systems and for systems innovation, plus links to cross-cutting practices elsewhere on this site.
Innovation systems: concepts and approaches
Innovation systems approaches—developed and refined in agriculture (AKIS/AIS)—are increasingly applied in health, energy, and other sectors where collaboration, knowledge flows, and systemic barriers must be addressed for meaningful change.
Knowledge management for innovation in agri-food systems
This 2024 paper by Andrea Gardeazabala et al. introduces the Agricultural Knowledge Management for Innovation (AKM4I) framework, designed to enhance knowledge flows in agricultural innovation systems (AIS). Unlike traditional linear, top-down approaches, AKM4I addresses power dynamics, trust, and ownership, ensuring more inclusive and adaptive knowledge management. By formalising information exchange and overcoming relational barriers, it fosters more effective and transformative agricultural innovation. A case study illustrates its practical application.
Scaling innovation within healthcare systems
This 2024 guide from the NHS Confederation is a practical roadmap for practitioners aiming to adopt and scale proven health innovations. Drawing on real case studies and extensive interviews, it highlights three pillars for success—understanding local needs, ecosystem engagement, and future-proofing for sustained impact. With toolkits, checklists, and lessons from NHS experience, it’s designed for innovators and system leaders working at any stage of the scaling journey.
Technology-specific analysis of energy innovation systems
This chapter from the Global Innovation Index 2018 offers an in-depth analysis of how innovation systems operate in energy sectors worldwide. It examines how networks of researchers, firms, policymakers, and intermediaries collaborate to develop and deploy technologies, overcome systemic barriers, and accelerate adoption. Filled with case studies and insights, it offers practitioners in energy and climate fields a systems lens for enabling transformative, cross-sector innovation.
Revealing power dynamics and staging conflicts in agricultural system transitions: Case studies of innovation platforms in New Zealand
This 2020 study by James Turner et al. examines how power dynamics shape agricultural innovation in New Zealand. Using case studies, the paper identifies conflicts as key moments that reveal relationships between actors and the wider institutional system. It highlights the need to consider role perceptions, power structures, and social learning when facilitating agricultural system transitions.
Agriculture 4.0: Broadening Responsible Innovation in an Era of Smart Farming
This 2018 paper by David Rose and Jason Chilvers argues for integrating responsible innovation principles—including anticipation, inclusion, reflexivity, and responsiveness—into smart farming. The authors propose a broader, systemic approach to ensure ethical and socially responsible innovation in agriculture, accounting for diverse participation and the existing innovation landscape.
Agricultural Innovation Systems : An Investment Sourcebook
This World Bank resource provides a practical guide to designing investments and policies that strengthen agricultural innovation systems. It outlines approaches to support knowledge sharing, collaboration, and technology adoption, offering insights for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners working in sustainable agricultural development.
Systems innovation: concepts & approaches
Systems innovation aims to shift whole systems, not just optimise within sectors. In practice that means working through coalitions and ecosystems, running portfolios of experiments, and aligning policy, finance, data and community participation so change can scale and stick—especially in mission areas like climate resilience, food systems, and mobility.
What is systems innovation?
This Climate-KIC resource explains systems innovation in plain language, with a focus on tackling big societal challenges like climate change and sustainable urban food systems. It details principles such as working through distributed networks, running coordinated experiments, and aligning finance and policy with community participation. Ideal for practitioners looking to move beyond piecemeal projects towards sustained, systemic transformation.
OECD system innovation: Synthesis report
This OECD report is a comprehensive guide to system innovation for sustainability, especially in mission areas like climate, energy, and food. It reviews major frameworks, offers lessons from international cases, and explores policy mixes and portfolio approaches. It’s highly useful for practitioners, policymakers, or coalitions designing and supporting transformative change across complex, multi-actor systems.
Climate action through systems innovation
This practical strategy from Climate-KIC Australia lays out how to leverage systems innovation to lead climate action. It showcases how coalitions organize portfolios of experiments, enable cross-sector collaboration, and create enabling conditions for scaling solutions. Practitioners get a roadmap for catalysing systems-oriented transitions in energy, food, and the built environment.
OECD OPSI visual toolbox for system innovation
This open toolbox provides step-by-step methods, visual maps, and facilitation tools for teams and networks working on systems innovation. Developed for public sector innovators, it supports building shared understanding, orchestrating multi-stakeholder projects, and managing portfolios for mission-led transformation. A practical resource for hands-on systems work.
Systems innovation: The key to complex transformation
A practitioner article introducing the concept of system innovation, contrasting it with traditional incremental improvement. It offers clear guidance on building system-wide solutions, collaborating beyond silos, using portfolios, and aligning multiple stakeholders for transformation. Great for teams seeking actionable insights without dense academic language.
A number of other resource pages on this site point to material relevant to different system-based approaches to managing innovation, including the social learning section. This includes pages on systems thinking and systemic design. Other useful pages include facilitation tools and techniques and critical reflection.
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