Innovations in MARLO are research outputs that have demonstrated — or show strong potential for — scaling beyond the immediate research context. They differ from deliverables in that they represent changes in practice, products, processes, services, or institutional arrangements that other actors can adopt. Registering an innovation in MARLO allows your cluster to score its readiness to scale, track maturity across annual cycles, and connect it to the outcomes and impact pathways it contributes to.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/CCAFS/MARLO/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Innovation typology
MARLO supports a standard typology for classifying innovations. Select the type that best describes what the innovation is:| Type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Product | New seed variety, agrochemical formulation, diagnostic kit |
| Process | Improved farm practice, data collection method, analytical protocol |
| Service | Advisory service, extension model, digital platform |
| Institutional change | Policy, regulation, standard, or governance mechanism |
| Capacity change | Training curriculum, competency framework, human-resource model |
Scaling Readiness scoring
MARLO uses the Scaling Readiness (SR) framework to assess how close an innovation is to being adopted at scale. The overall SR score is the sum of two sub-scores:| Dimension | Scale | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Innovation Readiness (IR) | 0 – 6 | Technical and operational maturity of the innovation itself |
| Innovation Use (IU) | 0 – 3 | Evidence that the innovation is being adopted by users beyond the research team |
| Overall SR | 0 – 9 | IR + IU; higher scores indicate greater readiness to scale |
Innovation Readiness levels
| Score | Level | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Idea | The concept has been identified but not yet developed |
| 1 | Hypothesis | Research question and theory of change defined |
| 2 | Proof of concept | Initial lab or controlled tests completed |
| 3 | Proof of principle | Results confirmed in real-world conditions |
| 4 | Small-scale pilot | Tested with a small group of actual users |
| 5 | Large-scale pilot | Tested across multiple sites or contexts |
| 6 | Ready for scaling | Fully documented and proven at scale |
Innovation Use levels
| Score | Level | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | No use | Not yet adopted outside the research team |
| 1 | Anecdotal use | Individual users have adopted without formal documentation |
| 2 | Expanding use | Multiple documented adopters across sites or institutions |
| 3 | Scaled use | Widespread, institutionalised adoption across the target geography |
SR scores entered in one phase replicate forward automatically to the next phase. You do not need to re-enter the score each year; instead, update the score in the current phase if maturity has changed. Past-phase scores are immutable — only the current phase score can be edited.
Register an innovation
Open the innovations section for your cluster
Navigate to Projects → select your cluster → Innovations in the left submenu. Confirm the active phase chip shows the phase you are working in.
Select type and fill in the description
Choose the innovation type from the typology list, then write a clear title and description explaining what the innovation is and what problem it addresses.
Set the Scaling Readiness scores
Enter the Innovation Readiness score (0–6) and the Innovation Use score (0–3). MARLO calculates the overall SR score automatically. Add a brief evidence narrative explaining why each score was assigned.
Tag geographic scope
Select the countries and regions where the innovation is relevant or being tested. This geographic tagging feeds into the BI dashboard and supports cross-program comparisons.
Link to outcomes and deliverables
In the Contributions section, link the innovation to the relevant project outcome, impact pathway element, and any supporting deliverables (e.g., the journal article or dataset that evidences the innovation).
Updating SR scores across phases
At the start of each new annual cycle, your previously registered innovations carry forward their last SR scores. To update a score:- Switch to the current phase using the phase chip.
- Open the innovation record.
- Update the Innovation Readiness and/or Innovation Use scores.
- Update the evidence narrative to describe what changed since the last phase.
- Save.
Linking innovations to impact pathways
An innovation should be linked to:- Project outcomes — the specific outcome in your cluster’s theory of change that this innovation supports.
- Sub-IDOs — the intermediate development outcome at the program level that the innovation contributes to.
- Supporting deliverables — the knowledge products that provide evidence of the innovation’s existence or use.