La ricerca in micropropagazione produce innovazione?

Micropropagation and, more in general, plant tissue culture have always been object of a large research activity. In corroboration of that, three International Conferences, taking place in every 3-4 years, deal with tissue culture. Moreover, papers dealing with micropropagation are accepted by numerous international journals, two of which specialistic of in vitro culture. However, does this research activity produce innovation for the micropropagation commercial laboratories? The query seems pertinent, considering that, in spite of the large quantity of publications on tissue culture produced in the last 20 years, practical applications in the commercial laboratories have often been modest or, even, nil. The range of communications at the most recent congresses show a propensity to the development of micropropagation protocols, while a minor attention is reserved to innovation and new applications of tissue culture. In addition, it comes out a scarce interest in the sector of Countries that, in the past, made the story of research in micropropagation. The paper reports an analysis of the probable causes and suggests the comeback of practical-applicative studies, responding adequately to the request of innovation coming from commercial laboratories and crop improvement.