Bringing Design Research to Tech Policy Innovation: An Investigation into Resilience of a Food System and Civic Agriculture

We report on design research for tech policy innovation in agriculture. We first present findings of an investigation into the resilience of a small-scale food system in a rural community situated in Eastern Washington State, United States. Drawing on these findings and civic agriculture as a normative frame, we develop a design toolkit that can be used to envision and explore tech policy innovations in agriculture. Our contributions are fivefold: 1) A design research case study in civic agriculture; 2) A resilience grammar for tracing resilience thinking in context; 3) An exploration of civic agriculture as a normative lens for responsible innovation; and 4) Four tech policy innovation criteria and a prototype of The Tech Policy Innovation Cards for Agriculture toolkit. Most broadly, 5) we contribute a proof-of-concept of moving from a design research case to the development of methods and toolkits for tech policy innovation.