Innovation Support Services: An Evidence-Based Exploration of Their Strategic Roles in the Italian AKIS

Purpose: This study explores the state of the art of innovation support services within cooperation projects for innovation in Italy to shed light on the variety of actors that are supporting them and the functions they perform. Design/Methodology/Approach: The methodology applied for this study was based on a mix of methods used to monitor and investigate different aspects of cooperation projects for innovation over a period running from 2013 to the present. The analytical framework draws on the extensive literature on innovation support functions. Findings: The study highlights a transition scenario of advisory services towards ISSs. A multiplicity of actors, individually and in association, are engaged in supporting co-innovation processes providing all the functions which are used to orient actors in the different phases of the innovation process. Practical implications: These findings lay the foundations for reconsidering the role of the innovation support services within the agricultural knowledge and innovation system towards a more inclusive approach that recognises different types of services providers and involves them since the definition of the strategic framework of the CAP. Theoretical implications: The study presents a first mapping of the actors providing innovation support services in Italy, showing that all the functions described by the literature are provided during interactive innovation processes by different actors and even in the absence of a specific mandate. Originality/Values: The study validates and broadens, through a large-scale analysis, the knowledge about innovation support service providers and the functions they perform.