Quantitative Indicators For Country Level Innovation Ecosystems

Innovation has been shown to be a key factor in determining a country’s competitiveness and economic growth potential. Through investments in education and research and development, many developing countries have tried to avoid the “middle income trap” of stagnation by working to create high-value employment opportunities. To better understand country-level readiness to innovate, we have compiled a set of publicly available data indicators and created a data tool to illustrate innovation capabilities and infrastructure by country. Our approach builds on and advances existing national innovation metrics by constructing transparent, publicly sourced indicators that emphasize changes over time and interrelationships between different indicators, as opposed to creating simple indices across groups of indicators. This occasional paper is targeted to an applied audience, explaining the methods used to assemble the data, an overview of the indicators, practical applications of the data, summary statistics, and data limitations. The data are not intended to be a tool for providing answers about innovation, but rather a starting point for future work including market landscaping, country-level diagnostics, and qualitative protocols for research.

This book takes stock of what is known about the process of innovation and its effects, and the policy interventions that influence both. It provides insights into future research required to support evidence-based policy-making and makes clear the need to take a systems approach to the analysis of innovation, its outcomes and its impacts. The contributors explore the fact that economic theory, statistical measurement and the need to achieve targets are combining to shift policy focus towards the economic and social impacts of innovation. This is forcing economists and statisticians to look for new measures, indicators, and analytical frameworks to support the public policy debate and the implementations of change necessary for success. The book emphasizes the importance of linkages and communities of practice in measuring and analyzing innovation, and focuses on: the importance of social sciences as well as natural sciences to the activity of innovation. policy-relevant discussions on the measurement gaps in the activity of innovation quantitative results of analysis relating to the output of innovation activities theoretical frameworks and concepts for measurement of the activity of innovation suggestions for new measurement directions for the activity of innovation which will lead into an international forum to discuss indicator development at the OECD over the next decade. Illustrating that the expectations of innovation policies are being raised, this book will prove fascinating reading for policy analysts, economists, academics and students with an interest in innovation, industrial dynamics and science and technology.

The concept of National Systems of Innovation was introduced as a method to describe the various elements which contribute to innovation performance and their interaction. In this book, the innovation structures of a broad set of countries are compared. It provides more than a pure compilation of quantitative indicators for international benchmarking, supporting an appropriate interpretation of the referring results and suggesting relevant conclusions for innovation policy.

This study—which includes a pilot intervention in Kenya—aims to further the state of knowledge about the emerging trend of disruptive agricultural technologies (DATs) in Africa, with a focus on supply-side dynamics. The first part of the study is a stocktaking analysis to assess the number, scope, trend, and characteristics of scalable disruptive technology innovators in agriculture in Africa. From a database of 434 existing DAT operations, the analysis identified 194 as scalable. The second part of the study is a comparative case study of Africa’s two most successful DAT ecosystems in Kenya and Nigeria, which together account for half of Sub-Saharan Africa’s active DATs. The objective of these two case studies is to understand the successes, challenges, and opportunities faced by each country in fostering a conducive innovation ecosystem for scaling up DATs. The case study analysis focuses on six dimensions of the innovation ecosystem in Kenya and Nigeria: finance, regulatory environment, culture, density, human capital, and infrastructure. The third part of the study is based on the interactions and learnings from a pilot event to boost the innovation ecosystem in Kenya. The Disruptive Agricultural Technology Innovation Knowledge and Challenge Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, brought together more than 300 key stakeholders from large technology companies, agribusiness companies, and public agencies; government representatives and experts from research and academic institutions; and representatives from financial institutions, foundations, donors, and venture capitalists. Scaling Up Disruptive Agricultural Technologies in Africa concludes by establishing that DATs are demonstrating early indications of a positive impact in addressing food system constraints. It offers potential entry points and policy recommendations to facilitate the broader adoption of DATs and improve the overall food system.

'A great book to understand and foster innovation at all levels: a truly innovative piece of work.' Enrico Giovannini, Minister of Labour and Social Policies, Italy 'This book brings together original contributions from world leading experts on innovation indicators and is unique in several respects. First, the focus is upon innovation in terms of commercialized products and processes and not on secondary indicators of research or patenting. Second, it combines academic perspectives with user perspectives from industry and international organizations. Third, it strikes a good balance between old and new indicators, opening up new dimensions of innovation for measuring. It is a book worth reading for scholars studying innovation, for policy makers and, not least, for innovation managers in the private sector.' Bengt-Åke Lundvall, Aalborg University, Denmark and Sciences-Po, Paris, France This Handbook comprehensively examines indicators and statistical measurement related to innovation (as defined in the OECD/Eurostat Oslo Manual). It deals with the development and the use of innovation indicators to support decision-making and is written by authors who are practitioners, who know what works and what does not, in order to improve the development of indicators to satisfy future policy needs. This unique volume presents: the historical and geographical context for innovation indicators and measurement practical examples of how measurement is actually undertaken new areas of innovation indicators and measurement, including consumer innovation, public sector innovation and social innovation. This informative Handbook will appeal to policy makers in government departments, statistical offices and research institutes and international organizations such as the EU, OECD and the UN, as well as university departments of economics, sociology, law, science and technology, and public policy.

Fransman explains how innovation happens and which factors can help or hinder, by treating innovation as a systemic phenomenon, or ecosystem of players and processes. It will appeal to economists, other social scientists, business people, policy makers, and anyone interested in innovation and entrepreneurship.

Increasingly, researchers and policymakers alike recognize that innovations are generated by complex and dynamic national ecosystems that include government, industry, universities and schools.