Science of scaling report 2025

The CGIAR Science of Scaling develops an evidence-based understanding of how agricultural and food system innovations achieve impact at scale across diverse and dynamic contexts, viewing scaling not as linear expansion but as a set of interconnected processes through which innovations are adapted, embedded, and sustained within socio-technical systems, institutions, and markets. Integrating theory, empirical research, and practice, it examines scaling pathways, enabling and constraining conditions, trade-offs, and unintended effects, with a strong emphasis on responsibility, inclusivity, and demand responsiveness, and is advanced through a dedicated Agricultural Systems special issue, a quarterly global webinar series, and doctoral research including the supervision of two PhD candidates at Wageningen University, together generating actionable knowledge to guide context-sensitive and responsible scaling for sustainable agri-food system transformation.