Since 2013, Cirad engaged in a reflection on the impact of its research, with the ambition to go beyond impact promise and develop a real institutionnal impact culture, within CIRAD and with its partner institutions. This culture is based on a better understanding of the complex innovation processes at stake in research interventions and an improvement of their impact in the longer run. 

After a report on the state of the art (January 2011) and the completion of four exploratory case studies (Report-May 2013), CIRAD launched an "Innovation-Impact Taskforce" which began its work in January 2014. The resources allocated to this project are substantial (management team, part-time researchers, masters interns and operational funds). Since mid-2015, the acronym ImpresS (Impact of Research in South/Impact des recherches au Sud) chosen to name this method has been used to talk about the whole project. From March 2015 to March 2016, the ImpresS ex post method has been tested through a first batch of 13 case studies  representing a variety of innovations and contexts, 7 of them being co-managed with a scientific partner from the south. In 2017, CIRAD lead an iterative process involving different stages, based on the ImpresS ex post lessons but also based on literature and workshops in France and abroad (Senegal, Costa Rica, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Tunisia and Peru), that tested and validated the ImpresS ex ante approach.