Multidimensional assessment of technology and innovation programs: the impact evaluation of INCAGRO-Peru

This article presents a methodological proposal and an empirical validation for the assessment of ST&I programs, particularly for choosing indicators and metrics from a multidimensional perspective. Its key feature is the construction of indicators designed to apprehend the wide array of characteristics displayed by the many different types of innovation program. Thus it combines deductive procedures (decomposition of goals) and inductive procedures (discussion with the players involved) with evaluation results and impacts in specific dimensions linked to the nature of a given program. We illustrate the approach using a World Bank Program called INCAGRO. The proposed method is a contribution to systematizing the definition of indicators and metrics for the assessment of ST&I programs. It helps define ‘what should be evaluated’ in a given program. Many different (unforeseen) results and impacts can emerge simultaneously with the main subject of the program. Thus multidimensional issues and multiple actors should be considered in the impact evaluation process.