In our third and final report from the DEIP Innovation Workshop in Morocco, September 2018, we spoke with Omar Elyoussoufi Attou, Head of Innovation at the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Executive Training. … How can this DEIP workshop help national governments — not only in Morocco but across the African Union? This workshop was an opportunity for us to have a better understanding of the issue of innovation in our countries, across various regions of ...
In this second report from our DEIP Innovation Workshop in Morocco, September 2018, we caught up with Dr. Mafini Dosso, an Ivorian national who works for the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in Seville, Spain. … We spoke about the pyramid of science communications: about serving the handful of policymakers at the top and the mass of citizens at the bottom. But you also mentioned the disconnect between the two, i.e. the lack of quality science communications in the middle. ...
As a co-author, the main point to stress is the large innovation divide between low- and high-income countries. Within Africa there are very large disparities – countries across the continent are very different – but there are some similarities. For example, there are still many challenges on the innovation input side, so that means institutions and infrastructure. However, a lot of efforts have been made in terms of R&D and research; there are increasing levels of R&D investments in many countr...
West Africa is known for its diversity: from the island nation of Cape Verde deep in the Atlantic, to the regional giant of Nigeria. One might expect a region of barriers, at least in terms of language and logistics. Yet our latest ‘DEIP’ workshop demonstrated clear and consistent engagement among a dozen West African nations — testament to regional partnerships built up in recent years at government and senior policy officer levels. … Policy Brief now available to downlo...
“India is one of the fastest growing countries in Asia, backed by strong knowledge intensive sectors – pharmaceuticals, chemical automotive, telecommunications, and aerospace to name but a few,” says DEIP Programme Coordinator Dr. Michiko Iizuka. “India is also exploring new models of development that are applicable to other countries, including frugal innovation and service sector led development. But for India to achieve anywhere near its full potential, all the major actors of her National Sy...
“Peru is at a critical juncture politically, economically and socially,” says Dr. Michiko Iizuka. “Their economy has been growing significantly for the past 10-15 years and during that period, poverty has decreased – but now economic growth is slowing due to the decline in commodity prices. This means that productivity gains, via increasing innovation, are crucial to maintain the current pace of development. In other words, Peru’s newly-elected president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski,...
Our latest workshop on the ‘Design and Evaluation of Innovation Policies’ (DEIP) was co-hosted in January 2016 by UNU-MERIT, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and Panama’s National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation (SENACYT). This four-day course gathered around 40 policymakers from Panama, Costa Rica and Honduras, as well as innovation experts from around the world. To put things in context, we spoke with a number of local representatives, including Ga...
With sanctions set to be lifted, and Iran slowly opening up to the international community, we travelled to Tehran for a workshop on the ‘Design and Evaluation of Innovation Policies’ (DEIP), from 18-22 October 2015. We spoke to three lecturers about their research and training experiences in the Islamic Republic. Dr. Michiko Iizuka, DEIP Course Leader We ran this DEIP workshop with the Iranian Association for Management of Technology (IRAMOT), an NGO that gathers researchers from universities, ...
After three decades of trial and error, innovation policy is taking off in Africa. Our new policy brief tracks the roll out of science, technology and innovation (ST&I) policies in 11 African nations, in the context of various development issues. Experts from around the world recently met in Nairobi, Kenya to analyse innovation policies in Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Among other outputs, the workshop mapped ST&I p...
Linking education with innovation was a key part of our latest DEIP workshop, held in the Dominican Republic in the heart of the Caribbean. Our event, co-hosted with the Inter-American Development Bank and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, brought researchers face-to-face with private and public sector representatives to find new and better ways to promote innovation. We spoke with five delegates, each representing a sphere of influence in innovation policy; click the + s...