The future of hybrid potato: responsible innovation with future scenarios

Abstract

This chapter explains how scenarios were used to guide the responsible innovation of hybrid potato breeding. Innovators, societal stakeholders and policy makers were involved in a process of mutual learning about how innovation can respond to major societal challenges like food security and sustainability. Focusing on the future of hybrid potato in 2040, three scenarios were elaborated that differed in control over the value chain, consumer demand, technology trends and dominant developments in agriculture. The question how to combine business opportunities for breeders with variety development that serves global food security in sustainable ways was identified as one of the main challenges emerging from this scenario exercise. This chapter also offers a critical reflection on the plausibility and desirability of the three different scenarios.

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

“…One of the core activities in our POTAREI project was an interactive scenario-building exercise in which we explored how the future of hybrid potato might be shaped by different and changing system conditions, with different implications for food security and sustainability on a global level; this section mostly relies on ref. [36]. We started this process in 2016, when hybrid potato breeding was at an early stage of development and its innovation trajectory was still open and uncertain.…”