ANNOUNCEMENT

Dear readers,

This blog is no longer updated.
Please visit http://inno-grips.portals.mbs.ac.uk/

Thank you,
moderator

Introducing IICD and ICT4D

There is increasing concerns and interest about how innovation in ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) can contribute to the development agenda (broadly known ICT for Development or ICT4D). With many other non-for-profit organisations, IICD (International Institute for Communication and Development) works on this issue. It specialises in information and communication technology (ICT) as a tool for development. IICD creates practical and sustainable solutions using both modern media (such as computers, Internet, email and multimedia) and traditional media (such as radio and television) to connect people and enable them to benefit from ICT, thereby contributing to the Millenium Development Goals. Currently, IICD is active in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Ghana, Jamaica, Mali, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia in the sectors education, environment, governance, health and livelihoods (agriculture). Visit IICD – there are lots of interesting things available on its website.

Civil society and Internet economy

If you work on the areas of the Internet, new media, future economy, sustainability, this news might interest you. A joint civil society declaration to the OECD 2008 Ministerial on the “Future of the Internet Economy” (currently taking place in Seoul) was just made public. This declaration addresses a number of issues and makes a number of recommendations to move towards the future of the Internet that meets the needs of the world’s citizens.

The full text of the declaration is accessible here, and also set out below as full text paragraphs.

Do you have any comments?

Young researchers’ view on innodev

In Manchester, on 9-10 April, INNO-GRIPS team at Manchester organised a dedicated, small-but-highly-focused workshop participated by early-career researchers from across Europe.

The workshop was kicked-off by an important address of Prof. Ian Miles who explained the context of the workshop within the GRIPS project. Then, Dr. Yanuar Nugroho made a case for “Innovation for development: a lesson from internet appropriation in Indonesian civil society organisations“, continued by a presentation of Dr. Isabel Álvarez entitled “FDI and world inequalities: The role of absorptive capacities“. After lunch, Mr. Swayan Chaudhuri delivered a presentation on “Economic Innovation, Development & Growth: Dynamics of Technological Change and Public Policy in South Korea“, followed by a plenary discussion.

On the second day, Ms. Waraporn Yangsap presented her research “Understanding and Unlocking the Productive Potential of IPRs in the Globalised Knowledge Based Economy” which was followed by Ms. Lois Muraguri’s presentation “The impact of IPRs on domestic innovation: choosing appropriate policies for biotechnology-led development and technology transfer“. All participants and Prof. Miles then engaged in an intensive discussion before the workshop concluded.

We will post here, in this blog, our full report and presentation material of all presenters. So, keep tuned-in!

Innovation and, or for, development? A provocation …

Over the past decade, there have been growing concerns that little attention has been given by innovation studies and policies towards development issues in general and third world developing countries in particular. Innovation studies have focussed mainly only on the interest of more developed economies, and in many developing economy contexts the notion of innovation has been limitedly understood within some narrower frameworks like ‘technology and knowledge transfer’. Despite belief that innovation is central in the course of development, this problem has paved a linear way of thinking about development itself. The study of innovation in and for development, which has emerged from the 1970s, admits and recognises that non-innovation factors –like democracy, civic engagement, among others—play equally important roles as innovation in the success of development. It also takes into account the importance of the roles of actors which were overlooked in the traditional notion innovation studies, like intermediaries and non-government/non-for-profit organisations. Further, there have been some efforts to understand different types of innovative activities from different perspectives that are performed by those actors.