Requirements and Components of National Innovation Network A Modern Approach towards Redisisigning Agricultural Education and Research System

Structure of Agriculture Sector in Iran, facing up to a number of challenges, requires much greater use of knowledge and innovation as well as establishing knowledge-oriented networks. This study aims at counting and reviewing main components of national agricultural innovation networks within a innovative approach towards improving and enhancing agricultural education sub-sector. The Experts that their knowledge was captured are 56 managers and experts of the Research and Education Department in the ministry of Jihad for Agriculture. The information gathering instrument contains semi-structured interview and researcher-designed questionnaire, the reliability of which was produced through a pre-test study and estimation of Cronbach’s Alpha. For the purpose of analyzing data, we use Analysis Network Process (ANP) technique computed by Super Decision software. Study results show that the main components effective on forming the national agricultural innovation network include research and educational institutes and organizations, supportive structures, intervening and mediating parties, consumers of formulated knowledge, and also final applicants of agricultural products and services. Therefore, given the important role of agricultural education system, among other mentioned components, there are made a number of suggestions including network-building, decentralized approach, creation of competition, demand-orientation, and compilation of Education Atlas as well as identifying the clients and activating the strategic positioning feature to recreate and improve the concerned system.