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European rural development programmes are driving multi-actor interactive innovation initiatives and alliances to create an environment in which innovation acts as a tool for accelerating rural development processes. In Europe, where rural areas are facing many challenges, identifying which challenges, difficulties, obstacles or risk factors that interactive innovation projects have had to face in rural areas while being planned and set up would be interesting. The objective of this research work was to, therefore, identify and analyse the risk factors of 200 rural projects and initiatives that were selected as case studies from the whole of Europe.

The employed methodology consisted in conducting interviews to subsequently perform statistical independence analyses of the qualitative variables characterising the found projects and risk factors.

The findings indicated that most of the risks that rural projects and initiatives faced were related to the social domain which was, in turn, the fundamental pillar of interactive innovation. Dependence was found between social risk factors appearing and the innovation type carried out; the risk factors corresponding to the political–legal risks category and the project or initiative coordinating country; and the economic–technical risks category and the initiatives' geographic magnitude.

This paper exposes the main risks identified within various rural innovation initiatives and projects around Europe. For this purpose, a statistical analysis of independence was performed, allowing us to generate reliable and accurate results of the main risks associated with certain descriptive characteristics (coordinating region, domain, innovation type, gender balance and geographic magnitude) of the initiatives studied.

Agriculture innovation systems (AIS) examine the complex socio-technical and institutional aspects affecting sustainable agriculture. However, it is predominantly constrained to the formal sector activities in the high-income countries (HICs). The informal sector actors play a major role in the agricultural sector of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), such as India, by innovating and disseminating grassroots innovations (GI). This study aims to explore the role of different GI, both by the informal and formal sectors, within an emerging AIS focused on seabuckthorn in Ladakh, India.

This study used a qualitative methodology, using semi-structured interviews and focused group discussions to gather data from the stakeholders involved in seabuckthorn value chain. The data was analysed using the AIS framework’sa priori themes and was validated through data triangulation with secondary sources.

This study reveals the existence of GI, by both the formal and informal sector actors, and their complex interaction within the seabuckthorn value chain. It highlights the importance of co-existence of these GI to make it a sustainable seabuckthorn AIS.

This study offers noteworthy perspectives for governments, policymakers and agricultural practitioners with respect to the assimilation of GI into AIS. These insights could help improve agricultural sustainability and viability, particularly in LMICs where the informal sector plays a significant role.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to explore the role of GI within AIS and opens up research avenues for further inquiry in both LMICs and HICs.