What does the Scaling Innovations Lab do?

The Scaling Innovations Lab adds value through three main activities.

Research: The Lab conducts research on scaling innovations around the world. This includes research conducted on all aspects of supply chain performance, from producers through to consumers, that:

a. Identifies barriers and avenues for innovations to be adopted;

b. Measures acceptability and acceptance of innovations, including supply-side and demand-side drivers;

c. Evaluates the economic, institutional, social and policy context and impacts of innovations.

Research activities provide a way to coordinate multiple agricultural development-focused grants across the College of Agriculture, Purdue University, and beyond. The Lab serves to coordinate these opportunities, and provide opportunities for Purdue faculty and our partners who are interested in engaging in this area.

Collaboration: Lab members collaborate on grants with multi-disciplinary teams and projects to determine the potential for innovations to reach scale. ScIL offers the following services:

a. Ex ante forecasts of innovation impact, consumer acceptance, and value propositions;

b. Benefit-cost and cost-effectiveness analyses of innovations;

c. Ex post measurement of impact and projections of impact at scale based on both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Consultation: Lab members can provide recommendations to businesses, governments, and donor organizations on how to identify innovations that can reach scale and how to prioritize investments in those innovations. This includes:

a. Estimating market size and potential returns for innovations;

b. Providing needs assessments with potential customers;

c. Evaluating the policies, market, and enabling environment that can enhance or inhibit an innovation’s ability to scale, and helping with policy design;

d. Identifying potential partners and collaborators for commercialization and scaling.