Scottish Rural Development Programme 2014-2020: Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund evaluation

Annex C: Interview schedule

Introductions and background

• Please could you tell me a little about your job?
• How were you involved with KTIF?
  • Were you a PAC member?
  • Were you a project lead?
• Can you tell me about the projects you were involved in?
  • What was your role in the project?
  • Was this a knowledge exchange or innovation project?

Big Picture – KE and innovation in agriculture

• KTIF aimed to promote knowledge exchange and innovation in agriculture, enabling farmers and crofters to share their work and try new things. Do you see this as important in agriculture?
  • Why/not?
• What do you think are the main challenges to knowledge exchange and innovation in agriculture?
  • Are these challenges experienced equally by all farmers/crofters, or do they effect some groups more?
• Do you think that Scottish Government is doing enough to support this?
  • What else could it do?

Benefits and impact of KTIF

KTIF had two aims: The first is to promote skills development and knowledge transfer in the primary agricultural sector. The second aim is to deliver innovation on-the-ground improvements in agricultural competitiveness, resource efficiency, environmental performance and sustainability.

• To what extent do you think KTIF achieved these goals?
• PAC members Can you identify any good examples of KTIF in action?
• PAC members Where do you think the scheme has delivered benefits?
• Project What were the benefits of the project(s) you’ve been involved in?
  • fostering knowledge transfer and innovation in agriculture and rural areas
  • enhancing competitiveness of all types of agriculture and enhancing farm viability
  • restoring, preserving and enhancing ecosystems dependent on agriculture
  • promoting resource efficiency and supporting the shift towards a low carbon and climate resilient economy in the agriculture and food sectors
• What expectations did you have for KTIF/your project, did it meet these?
  • Did it exceed them?
• Do you think KTIF projects offered good value for money, considering their aims and outcomes?
• What would the implications be if KTIF were to be discontinued?
  • to your knowledge, are there any other avenues for funding projects like these?
• Overall, do you think KTIF was a successful scheme?

Applications

• Could you please talk me through your experience of the KTIF application process?
  • Did you encounter any challenges with the application process?
  • Did you require any assistance with the application process?
  • How would you change the application process in future?
• PAC members What are your thoughts on the applications that were received?
  • Did we get enough applications?
  • how was the quality of the applications?
  • what were the main reasons applications were rejected?
  • what did you think of the projects themselves – were they sufficient for KTIF to achieve its goals?
• How was the scheme promoted?
  • Through what channels (e.g., newspapers, social media).
  • Do you think this was sufficient? How would you change this going forward?

Identifying relevant projects

• How did you identify a need for a certain project?
• How was it decided that a project was innovative?
• PAC members I’m interested in how the PAC came to decisions, how you decided which applications to accept or reject for funding. Could you talk me through that process?
  • what factors were considered? Were some weighted more heavily than others? (e.g., policy relevance/value for money).
  • was there a clear strategic direction in terms of which projects KTIF should fund?
  • how consistent were opinions between PAC members? How were inconsistencies addressed?
• Project Did you have any involvement with Rural Innovation Support Service (RISS) when developing the project plan?
  • How was your experience with RISS?
  • how did RISS contribute to the project?
  • What kind of support do you think would be beneficial for developing future innovation projects?
  • Do you think that innovation brokerage, such as RISS, should be incorporated into the design of a new Farm Advisory Service?
• How do you think decisions about project funding should be made?

Lifespan of the project

• Once the applications had been reviewed and successful projects were underway, what happened during the lifespan of the projects?
  • were those running projects required to collect or report on any data, and if so, how frequently?
  • what challenges arose when monitoring the projects?
  • what was done with the information gathered?
• What do you think of how the projects/scheme were monitored?

Co-operation and communication

• Once the projects were off the ground – what was communication like between Scottish Government and the project group?
  • was this communication sufficient? Would you have liked more/less?
  • did you find support from SG helpful?
• Innovation projects How well do you think the operational group worked together?
  • did you face any challenges in maintaining the operational group?

Evaluation and dissemination

• Could you talk me through the process of what happens when the project is complete and the funding has stopped?
• How are the projects evaluated?
  • what is done with this information?
  • what challenges arose in evaluating the projects?
  • what do you think of this approach to evaluating the projects?
• What happens to the learnings from these projects? How is it shared?
  • How effective do you think KTIF is in distributing and sharing effective innovation?
  • To what extent do you think the wider farming community benefits from the innovation and knowledge exchange generated from KTIF?
  • In terms of sharing what we learn from KTIF projects, are there any particular challenges to doing so, or groups which face challenges?
  • How do you think the learnings from KTIF should be used to have a wider impact?
• Innovation projects under KTIF were aligned to the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) for agricultural productivity and sustainability, which aims to promote a faster and wider transposition of innovative solutions into practice, and create added value by enhancing the uptake and effectiveness of innovation-related instruments. To what extent do you think KTIF contributed to these aims?
  • To what extent have learnings from KTIF been made available to farmers and land managers across Europe?
  • To what extent have learnings from European schemes been made available to farmers and land managers in the UK?
  • How do you think this can be improved?
  • Do you think this would be valuable/has it been valuable?

Experience of PAC members

• PAC members How did you come to be on the PAC?
• PAC members How do you feel about the experience of being a PAC member?
• PAC members From your perspective as a PAC member, how would you change KTIF in the future?

Final comments

• Do you have any other comments about KTIF, or knowledge exchange and innovation in agriculture?