Public-private partnerships in agricultural research: an analysis of challenges facing industry and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

This paper asks why it is that, whilst public-private partnerships offer potentially important opportunities for pro-poor agricultural research in developing countries, few examples of successful public-private partnerships have come to light.

The study hypothesises that the willingness and ability of public agencies and private firms to enter into partnerships are constrained by:

• fundamentally different incentive structures
• insufficient minimization of the costs and risks of collaboration
• an inability to overcome mutually negative perceptions
• limited use of creative organizational mechanisms that reduce competition over key assets and resources
• insufficient access to information on successful partnership models.

Tentative findings suggest that while incentives and perceptions do differ between sectors, sufficient common space exists or can be created through incentive structuring to facilitate greater partnership. However, both public and private sector partners inadequately account for and minimize the costs and risks of partnership. Similarly, partners discount the need for brokers and third-party actors to manage research collaborations and reduce competition between sectors. Finally, partners are operating without sufficient information on existing partnership experiences, lessons, and models, potentially contributing to a persistent or widening gap between sectors. [adapted from authors' summary]