Innovation and the commons: lessons from the governance of genetic resources in potato breeding

Abstract

This article explores the relation between innovation and resources that are governed as commons by looking at the governance of potato genetic resources, especially in the context of the emergence of hybrid diploid potato breeding that will enable potato propagation through true seeds. As a new breeding tool, hybrid diploid potato breeding may not only revolutionize traditional potato breeding practices, it may also strongly affect current governance modes of potato genetic resources as a commons. Contrary to conventional accounts of the commons that treat technological innovation mainly as an exogenous factor, we argue that technological innovation can better be understood as an endogenous factor. In particular, we develop a co-production framework of innovation and the commons that draws attention to the different ways in which innovation, commons and its governance interact. Using this framework, we demonstrate that the constitution of potato genetic resources as a commons cannot be understood without considering the various ways in which technological innovation affects resources and mediate how these are governed. While reversely, technological innovations themselves are also enabled and constrained by users who govern potato genetic resources as a shared resource. We argue that changes in the governance of genetic resources can be understood as a change from one socio-technical constellation to another, whereby innovations, resources, and institutions are continuously co-produced.

Farmers’ Rights and Digital Sequence Information: Crisis or Opportunity to Reclaim Stewardship Over Agrobiodiversity?

“…For example, today many new crops are developed using DSI that is not from plant genetic resources, and synthetic biology is an increasing area of research focus. As Beumer et al (2021) describe, institutions impact innovations, but scientific and technological innovations also impact institutions. They propose “the perspective of co-production as a fruitful way to understand the interaction between technological innovation and the commons” ( Beumer et al, 2021 ).…”

“…As Beumer et al (2021) describe, institutions impact innovations, but scientific and technological innovations also impact institutions. They propose “the perspective of co-production as a fruitful way to understand the interaction between technological innovation and the commons” ( Beumer et al, 2021 ). If we adopt this framing, it may be that we find ourselves in a time of rapid co-production of policy formulation as ABS is reconsidered and reconceived in light of DSI ( Laird et al, 2020 ).…”

Responsible Innovation in Plant Breeding: The Case of Hybrid Potato Breeding

“…In light of the lessons from our scenario exercise, we defined the governance of genetic resources as a major subject that would deserve a more detailed study from a so-called 'commons' perspective; this section mostly relies on ref. [37]. Commons refer to shared resources that are governed by communities of users according to rules that make these resources available and accessible in sustainable ways.…”

Employing CRISPR/Cas Technology for the Improvement of Potato and Other Tuber Crops

“…The genetic basis of self-incompatible mechanism in flowering plants, including the Solanaceae family was reviewed in the some researches ( Kao and McCubbin, 1996 ; Silva and Goring, 2001 ). These technologies include genetic engineering, molecular marker technology, cis -genesis, and more recently gene editing ( Beumer et al, 2021 ).…”