How did the research community respond to the COVID-19 pandemic? A new article shows that countries with academic capabilities formed strong alliances and that the highly developed countries with the highest number of confirmed cases are also the major academic contributors to the COVID-19 literature. What is the impact of social policy programmes on entrepreneurs in developing countries? A new working paper analyses the effect of participation in social policy programmes on the business perform...

Researchers of UNU-MERIT, the Maastricht Sustainability Institute and the Department of Chemical Engineering of Maastricht University have obtained a 1.5 million euro grant to contribute to an EU-funded project on plastic packaging recycling.  The EU is allocating a total budget of 9.6 million euros for the SYSCHEMIQ project as part of the Horizon Green Deal programme. The project is intended to facilitate the systemic transition to a circular economy in the region. The project fits with the str...

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect vulnerable groups? A new journal article examines the before- versus the after-effects of the pandemic shock on individual job status in spatial labour markets and identifies small but distinct subgroups that may require particular policy interventions. What are the employment effects of import penetration in Africa? asks a new working paper exploring manufacturing industry-level data across 20 African countries over the 1990-2016 period and firm-level data. ...

How can developing countries combine green transformation with sustainable industrialisation? A new book argues that renewable electrification can go hand-in-hand with local economic development – but only via new and robust policy approaches. ‘How fast is this technology going to be a hit?’ asks a new journal article, comparing more than 10,000 novel technologies registered at the European Patent Office over a 30-year period. Results show that complex, science-based technologies are often high ...

Two new flagship programmes from UNU-MERIT, coming under the banner of ‘Comprehensive Innovation for Sustainable Development‘ (CI4SD), feature in the first ever UN Climate Change Innovation Compendium, in chapters focusing on the Green Economy and on Capacity Strengthening. … We live in times of unprecedented global challenges – climate change is one of the greatest threats we face. Catastrophic heat waves, wildfires, floods, drought, storms and other natural disasters linked t...

What are the major drivers of structural change — technology, trade, policy or pressure groups? A new book published by Oxford University Press investigates the causes and consequences of structural change across the global economy, particularly in terms of inclusiveness and sustainability. This edited volume provides a comprehensive overview of the major debates surrounding structural change, from the intellectual foundations through historical trends to the latest analyses. Why does rapi...

In this first installment of our ‘Rethinking Research’ series, we speak with Dr. Nanditha Mathew, who leads our new research team entitled, ‘Conflicting and Complementary Policies for Development’. Head of Communications Howard Hudson put the questions to Nanditha in the context of our new foundational programme, Comprehensive Innovation for Sustainable Development. The CI4SD programme, launched in July 2021, explores crossovers with other disciplines, while connecting wi...

What social protection innovations were implemented in response to the COVID-19 crisis? A new report commissioned by UNDP found that almost all countries required innovative practices to quickly deliver social protection to those usually excluded from benefits, including informal-sector workers, refugees and migrants. Are entrepreneurs in Kenya’s informal sector more likely to receive goods and services on credit when using mobile money? A new working paper says that mobile money can indir...

Our ‘Comprehensive Innovation for Sustainable Development’ (CI4SD) team led by Dr. Lili Wang has won €250,000 in ‘Merian’ funding from the Dutch Research Council and the Chinese Academy of Sciences for a vertical farming project entitled, ‘GREENFARM’. Her team will work with counterparts at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, the Institute of Botany at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Genetics and Development Biology in China. Vertical farmin...

Do countries’ research priorities match their SDG challenges? Will science and technology inequalities prove a barrier to success? A new policy brief argues that funders, donors and international organisations should review their research priorities — by consulting with a wider range of stakeholders and assessing the unequal impacts on society of research itself. Can social protection policies improve the educational achievements, as well as the mental and physical health, of immigrant stu...