Interactive innovation is a key factor influencing the sustainability of value chains in the wine sector

Abstract

More innovative management strategies in the wine sector are required to move towards enhanced sustainability standards that are increasingly in demand. Such strategies need to encompass the whole value-chains if they aspire to become effective in their territorial context, beyond the farm level. Innovation is hereby unrestricted to technological aspects, and also encompasses social, environmental, institutional, territorial and organizational elements, that are equally relevant.Interactive innovation, whereby diverse actors and networks mutually interact across different components and stages of the food value-chain, is currently advocated by EU ́s rural development strategies to enhance the sustainability of the farming sector. Under such interactive innovation paradigm, sustainability needs to be considered as relational. Using the Wine Sustainability Program of Alentejo (Portugal) as case study, we assessed how interactive innovation is effectively enacted and how it can enhance the sustainability of wine value chains across scales ranging from the farm to the region.To do this we examined data from quantitative-bio/physical and qualitative-social assessments to elicit indicators and narratives useful to identify current gaps and future improvements. Results and lessons learnt indicate to relevant aspects so far largely under-considered such as the key role of individual champions in leading by example, of open-ended stakeholder networks for knowledge and action co-construction, the sheer importance of shared values, and lastly the relevance of horizontal cooperation (amongst farmers) and vertical coordination (along the value chain) for sustainability purposes. Naturally, this does not provide a one-size-fits-all pathway towards enhanced sustainability standards in the wine sector, but it shows the potential role to be played by interactive innovation as a key factor for enhancing such standards in ways that have been, so far, largely marginalized