ICRISAT: innovation broker working with private sector An interview with Ram Dhulipala

ICRISAT’s iHub platform was recently highlighted in the Food & Business Knowledge Platform for its role as a connector – an innovation broker – between technology innovators, the private sector and other stakeholders. Mr Ram Dhulipala of iHub speaks to Dr Sarah Cummings of Wageningen University and Research on the importance of public-private partnerships, especially in the context of on One CGIAR.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international, public sector research centre, part of the CGIAR network, based in Hyderabad, India. ICRISAT’s Digital Agriculture program, which has received considerable support from senior management, is a self-sufficient research program with a radical approach. In this program, ICRISAT plays the role of innovation broker, linking farmers with public-private partnerships (PPPs) and tech startups. ICRISAT has focused on digital agriculture since 2015 with a formal Digital Agriculture program since 2016.

The Digital Agriculture team launched the iHub, namely the innovation hub for agritech entrepreneurs, in February 2017. The iHub is an innovation broker that creates partnerships between technology innovators and ICRISAT research programs. The iHub plays a critical role in strengthening connections between researchers and the private sector by encouraging tech startups to reconceive their products for the agriculture sector.