Conventional agricultural research approaches have generated research results with limited adoption rates in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Recently, a new research approach – integrated agricultural research for development (IAR4D) was introduced in SSA. The IAR4D approach goes beyond the conventional research focus on agricultural production technologies, as it includes marketing and development activities. This paper analyses the impact of IAR4D in the East and Central African region using panel data of 2 229 households drawn from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda. Country-level comparison of the IAR4D and conventional research approaches shows a non-significant difference in the two approaches for crop income, but a significant and positive impact when all countries are combined. Households participating in IAR4D showed significantly greater livestock income than households in conventional villages in Rwanda only. Given that the IAR4D impact assessment was done only two years after the start of the new approach, these results should be interpreted with care. There is need to conduct a thorough analysis after the programme has been running for a considerably longer time.