INNOVATION POLICY AND INDUSTRIAL POLICY AT THE CROSS-ROADS: A REVIEW OF RECENT EXPERIENCES IN ADVANCED DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development Working Paper Series WP 09 | 2015 (original) (raw)

Developing countries and innovation: Searching for a new analytical approach

Technology in Society, 2008

This article argues that the technological innovation is a contextual process whose relevance should be assessed depending on the socio-economic condition it is embedded in. Without this, technology-led economic policies (of Catch-Up varieties) are unlikely to meet the needs of most people, especially in countries where innovation and poverty reside side by side. We analyse micro-level account of the cognitive and socio-economic context within which innovations arise and argue that a process of real importance is being sidelined: the ability to innovate under 'scarcity' conditions. In this process, idiosyncratic innovative paths are followed, which we argue have been least theorized and which may provide solutions for urgent and otherwise unsolved problems. We sketch a scarcity-induced innovation framework to analyse such paths and provide a brief account of institutional aspects of planning and policy in this approach. r

Innovation vs. industrial policies in the developing world: a tale of competing approaches in the neoliberal paradigm

The global financial crisis has provoked a resurgence of interest in industrial policies, as well as newly minted innovation policies in developing countries. To date, the crisis has had lingering effects on living standards, investment, productivity growth, international trade and technological progress in developing countries. Policy makers are in search of solutions to revitalise growth processes that improve social and economic prospects, aligned to new sustainable development goals. To understand their significance, contemporary industrial and innovation policies must be placed within an historical and institutional context, shaped by prevailing agendas in the global political economy. Both policy approaches have accordingly shifted from their original rationales, conceptual and empirical foundations, giving rise to potential trade-offs and implementation challenges. Policy makers must therefore consider long-term needs, their underlying contradictions and feasibility of relevant instruments, as well as develop institutional capabilities, all of which are partly determined by their specific socio-political structures. This paper seeks to address these tensions by examining the historical conditions under which both ‘industrial’ and ‘innovation’ policies emerged and their contemporary use in developing countries. It provides some clarity to policy makers, the academic and international development community regarding the contradictions, cleavages and commonalities that underpin both policy approaches.

Promoting Innovation, Productivity and Industrial Growth and Reducing Poverty: Bridging the Policy Gap

The European Journal of Development Research, 2007

Development and the ending of mass poverty require a massive increase in productive capabilities and production in developing countries. Some countries, notably in Asia, are achieving this. Yet 'pro-poor' aid policies, especially for the least developed countries, operate largely without reference to policy thinking on the promotion of innovation for productivity growth. Conversely, policy-makers and researchers on innovation and industrial policies tend to know little about the potential for social protection to support innovation and productivity improvement. The Open University's Innovation, Knowledge and Development (IKDwww.open.ac.uk/ikd) Research Centre held an international workshop in London in November 2005 that brought together researchers seeking to bridge this gap in research and policy. This special issue presents a set of papers developed from presentations at that workshop. This introduction identifies key themes developed in these papers, and links the themes back to workshop discussion. Our objectives in this issue are agenda-setting. We aim to focus attention on the gulf between research on innovation and on poverty reduction and to identify some of its policy consequences; to set out some ways in which this gulf can be bridged, analytically and empirically; and, drawing on workshop debate, to contribute to the creation of an agenda for further research and an understanding of the urgency of the implied rethinking. DEVELOPMENT THEORY AND POLICY SPACE A central theme of the workshop was the importance of the link between analytical models and the creation of policy space. A number of participants identified constraints on policy creativity: they argued that conventional wisdom in development theory and

The Open University ’ s repository of research publications and other research outputs National innovation systems , developing countries , and the role of intermediaries : a critical review of the literature

2016

Developed over the past three decades, the national innovation system concept (NIS) has been widely used by both scholars and policy makers to explain how interactions between a set of distinct, nationally bounded institutions supports and facilitates technological change and the emergence and diffusion of new innovations. This concept provides a framework by which developing countries can adopt for purposes of catching up. Initially conceived on structures and interactions identified in economically advanced countries, the application of the NIS concept to developing countries has been gradual and has coincided – in the NIS literature – with a move away from overly macro-interpretations to an emphasis on micro-level interactions and processes, with much of this work questioning the nation state as the most appropriate level of analysis, as well as the emergence of certain intermediary actors thought to facilitate knowledge exchange between actors and institutions. This paper review...

Introduction to the Special Issue of the Review of Policy Research: Innovation, Innovation Policy, and Social Inclusion in Developing Countries

This special issue intends to explore and fuel current debate on the role technological innovation, as well as social innovation, is playing or could play in developing countries to foster social inclusion, the alleviation of poverty, and the reduction of inequality. The focus is on the extent to which local public policies are explicitly contributing to these goals. Claims for a more responsive role of governments to address long-standing problems affecting the most vulnerable population in developing countries are on the rise due to a generalized perception, unjustified or not, that policy makers are not paying enough attention to what the knowledge society entails and has to offer and on the ways it could be operationalized in order to meet basic needs.

Political Challenges of Innovation in the Developing World 1

Review of Policy Research, 2009

In this article, we seek to rectify the absence of political analysis characterizing most literature on innovation and development. Although existing research is careful to note the lack of any single recipe or model of innovation, most scholars identify a range of institutions and policies influencing innovative performance. But such explanations beg the question of where institutions, so critical to policy implementation, actually come from. We argue that the answer lies in (1) the desire of political leaders to promote innovation and related institutions, and (2) the structure of political arrangements—especially the number of actors with the power and interest to block or promote reform—through which leaders must operate. We argue that both of these variables are strongly influenced by the threats facing leaders and the resources available to address such threats.