Tensions in co-evolutionary processes: Three Swedish seed organizations in the 20th century

This paper addresses the issue of which societal actors have the capability and willingness to finance and organize search processes, in order to introduce commercial innovations, over a longer time period. The long-term development of agriculture depends upon innovations within a variety of technologies, markets, organizational forms as well in the seeds themselves. This involves points of tensions between continuity and change as well as co-evolutionary processes organized around the innovation processes. This article explores the tensions between continuity and change, by focusing on three dimensions, namely: (1) regional location versus global interactions; (2) static specialization versus experimentation in knowledge and products; and (3) relative success versus failure. The historical development of three Swedish agricultural seed organizations, Hilleshog, Svalof and Weibulls, during the 20th century, provides an empirical probe within which to address the more fundamental theoretical problems.