The Spiral of Innovations is not a planning tool. Instead, it helps to identify what is at stake at a certain point during the innovation process. As it turns out, too little attention is often given to the early stages of the innovation process.

Questions such as what needs to be done, who should be connected and what typical pitfalls should be avoided must be answered in all stages of the innovation process to ensure that the innovation moves along.

And it does appear as if the participants of an innovation process easily recognize all of the seven stages: The initial idea, inspiration, planning, development, realization, dissemination, and embedding. However, in formal structures most attention goes to the later stages.

The Early Stages Do Matter

According to AgriSpin’s findings, an initiative is often not taken seriously unless it has been framed in a project proposal. And many good ideas never reach that stage. The early stages frequently happen informally, often driven by initiators who are rowing upstream.

Heidi Hundrup Rasmussen, the project manager of AgriSpin, finds this very unfortunate because all seven stages of the innovation process are equally important, as the Cross Visits of AgriSpin have clearly demonstrated.

– Different contributions are called for in different stages. Therefore, the farmer cannot play with the same resource persons in all seven phases of the innovation process. Both the farmer and the people supporting him need to be aware of this, Heidi Hundrup Rasmussen explains and continues:

– In order to create space for innovations, assistance in these early stages is very helpful.

Lack of Funding Is a Pitfall

As it turns out, the innovation process often sours in the early stages because of a lack of funding. In fact, it is a typical pitfall in the early stages of the innovation process in most European countries.

– Generally, it is very difficult for innovative farmers in Europe to find funding and in many countries, entrepreneurs cannot get sufficient help with finding funding, Heidi Hundrup Rasmussen says.

Unfortunately, this often puts a stop to the innovation process, because help with funding does help the innovation process along.

– In the countries that do have organizations that assist innovative farmers with finding funding, the innovation process itself tends to be smoother, Heidi Hundrup Rasmussen explains.

Read More

Read more about the pitfalls of innovation processes.

Why a Spiral?

The Spiral of Innovations is presented as a spiral because an innovation process is an iterative process rather than a linear one. During an innovation process, the process sometimes enters a dead end street, and actors need to go back to an earlier stage. Often some stages are repeated several times before they have generated sufficient social capital and evidence for the innovation process to continue at a higher level.

The Spiral of Innovations is also referred to as the Spiral of Initiatives.

Find the answers to these questions at each stage of the innovation process:
1. How do you recognise this stage?
2. What are the core actions in this stage?
3. Which actors should be involved in this stage?
4. What are typical pitfalls to avoid in this stage?
5. What must be achieved before entering into the next stage?

Notice the Pitfalls

All of the seven stages have certain characteristics which in turn describe the pitfalls adhering to the stage in question. Take a look at the more detailed description resulting from AgriSpin or read the shorter version below.

Initial idea

Good ideas can come from everywhere: farmers, researchers, policy makers, and members of civil society. What matters most is that a network of passionate people embraces the idea and has the ambition to bring it further. And remember that renewal most often occurs at the edges of an ecosystem, and not in the centre where peer pressure is highest.

Inspiration

At this stage, a warm network should be formed with people who are willing to help realising a dream. It is more likely that this happens at a kitchen table rather than at a negotiation table. Also be aware of public meetings where the critics occupy the first row. There is a risk that the idea will be killed before it is born. Now is the time to build informal relations with people who can help opening doors in later stages.

Planning

The planning stage is usually poorly understood, especially by funding agencies. For developing innovations, actors need a safe space where they can learn, try, fail, try again, mobilise expertise when they need it and respond to what they discover. This is not possible when the project plan is rigid, with detailed steps, contracted suppliers and calculable results to be delivered.

Development

This is the stage of discovery. This space should allow for trial and error, for “clever” mistakes (learning from failure), for responding to what occurs, for involving expertise when this appears to be useful. The most common pitfall is rigid plans that do not allow for surprises or creativity. Another pitfall is to stay in this stage too long.

Realisation

In the realisation stage, the results of the experiments become a practice to be implemented. Some stakeholders will embrace it, others will show resistance because their interests are at stake. Negotiation usually is a core activity here, which requires different actors such as mediators. It is helpful if they have been involved in the previous stages as well.

Dissemination

Good innovations spread by themselves and when potential users can easily learn about the innovations it happens more readily. A typical pitfall at this stage is that many people want change but nobody wants to be changed. The essential element of dissemination is the connection between what potential users want and the contribution of the new practice to those desires.

Embedding

Embedding means that the enabling environment accepts the new practice and adapts its structures so that it becomes mainstream. One difficulty to overcome is that practitioners and decision makers often live in different “bubbles” of society, each with their own rules, games, tensions and images of reality so how do managers for example recognise the importance of facilitators with the proper skills for multi actor innovation processes as long as they do not experience the need themselves? The challenge is to amplify the good examples that are being created at present and to create opportunities for dialogue.