Sustainability through Knowledge and Innovation: Exploring AKIS Best Practices across European Regions and National Frameworks

Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) are increasingly recognised as strategic infrastructures for addressing the challenges of European agriculture in the era of the twin transition. By fostering interaction among farmers, researchers, advisors, enterprises, and policymakers, AKIS create the conditions for innovations that respond simultaneously to the imperatives of sustainability and the opportunities of digitalisation. Yet, despite their growing institutionalisation in European policies such as the Common Agricultural Policy and the Green Deal, the way AKIS operate in practice remains fragmented and uneven across regions. This thesis investigates how best practices within European AKIS can be interpreted and systematised to understand the dynamics that enable their success and transferability. Through a systematic analysis of documented initiatives, it identifies patterns in governance models, innovation types, stakeholder engagement, and the integration of sustainability and digitalisation. The study highlights not only the strengths of existing practices but also the gaps that hinder the full realisation of the twin transition. Complementing this comparative overview, the thesis explores the case of Landlab S.r.l., a research-intensive private company embedded in the Veneto AKIS. This case study provides a novel perspective on the role of enterprises as active knowledge brokers and innovation catalysts. By connecting local networks with global markets, Landlab exemplifies how private actors can contribute to accelerating the alignment of green and digital transformations within regional systems. Overall, the thesis shows that well-designed AKIS best practices can effectively combine sustainability and digitalisation, and that digitalization proves fundamental for scaling-up and operate across borders. Moreover, private research-intensive companies such as Landlab play a decisive role in bridging local and global knowledge flows, thereby accelerating the twin transition in regional agricultural systems.