“DILIC Project: Policies to promote innovation in LICs” Dr. Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, WIPO Nov. 21, 2012 London, ODI, November 2, 2015

Agenda for this talk 1. Policy lessons from the field 2. Lessons for definitions and methods Action: a joint future agenda

1. Policy lessons from the field: Institutions and organisation Developing countries increasingly design policies to increase their innovation capacity – carries risks Risk treating innovation as separate + separate constituents Fragmentation of key responsibilities across ministries Significance of coordinating with other policy realms - education and skills, FDI and trade Being more imaginative with IP policy Perseverance

1. Policy lessons from the field: Substance International FDI & value chain focus - Enclaves of excellence Frameworks for domestic innovation and bottom-up entrepreneurship

1. Policy lessons from the field: Substance Potential payoff of creating technology-neutral conditions for bottom-up innovation, with serendipity, risk-taking and incentives, significant. Competition private, foreign, state-owned firms; access to finance; ease to start business; ICT Yet this approach comes with less control; progress and impacts are not easily monitored by data. The more top-down approach is faster – at times – but fails to set the proper incentives

1. Policy lessons from the field: 6 priorities 1)Increasing business sophistication 2)Increasing linkages from public research – be practical, creation of private university, R&D manager associations 3)Capture spillovers from multinational to local economy- often disconnected, geographically, only inward mobility 4)Tapping the diaspora abroad 5)Scaling up activities in micro-enterprises (informal sector) – mechanisms of appropriation 6)Steering context-specific solutions for local challenges - South-south trade in tailored innovative solutions

1. Policy lessons from the field: Smart IP policies Moving away from step- by-step approach 1.Establishing law to conform to international standards 2.Focus on designing the local IP system 3.Fostering local uptake 4.Fostering commercialisation of IP 5.Encouraging tradability of IP (licensing in &out) Moving away from IP silo approach Seeing IP in context of local innovation system & policy From smart specialization to smart, targeted use of IP

Sri Lanka

2. Lessons for definitions and methods (i) Overfocus on high-income R&D and classic innovation surveys and (ii) deluge of definitions not helpful Definitions: Avoid creating empty buzzwords - Go beyond “new to firm or market” to include purpose of innovation but do not get lost in “frugal”, “sustainable”, “grassroot innovation”. “innovation leads to affordable access of quality goods & services creating livelihood opportunities …on a long-term sustainable basis with a significant outreach.”

2. Lessons for definitions and methods Innovation is considered from enterprise perspective in CIS-type surveys – connection to market. Informal and community-based Inability to survey (informal) micro-firms without assessment of economic social impacts. Understanding channels of learning, upgrading, entrepreneurship (drivers and incentives) and outcomes - Role of indigenous or local knowledge

Action: a joint agenda Urgent need to consolidate definitions & to come up with mixed survey and semi-structured interview schemes Report back with lessons on optimal policy mixes