Collaboration for social innovation in the agri-food system in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

[EN] Aim of study: This study reviews the state of the art of collaboration for social innovation in food and rural systems. The analysis focuses on cooperation by farms and agro-industry companies. The purpose is to identify not only the state of the art of this research topic but also the main authors, the countries where these studies are conducted and the dynamics of research networks in relation to these topics. Area of study: Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Material and methods: The Web of Science database was used to search for articles containing the terms 'cooperation', 'networks', 'innovation', 'social', 'rural' and 'LAC'. Using VOSviewer network creation and analysis software, maps of citations, co-authorship, co -citations and co-occurrence of key-words were created and analysed. Content analysis was then performed. Finally, the research areas that the authors of the analysed articles consider to be of interest for future research were identified. Main results: The results reveal that researchers from Latin America and other regions, especially Europe and the English-speaking world, are showing a growing interest in collaborative systems for development and social innovation in LAC. Research highlights: The analysis enables further progress to be made in identifying the main drivers of collaboration in the LAC rural sector. These main drivers include social innovation, sustainable and social capital.