About The Innovation for Development Report

The relative importance of various drivers of economic growth and prosperity has evolved over time, and, for a growing number of countries, innovation, in its many dimensions is emerging as a leading factor. The Innovation for Development Report provides a comprehensive look at the role of innovation in enhancing the development process.

The Report is divided into three thematic parts (see contents here).^pdf The first features the Innovation Capacity Index, a methodological tool that examines a broad array of factors, policies, and institutions that have a bearing on strengthening innovation in a large number of countries, including their institutional environment, their human capital endowment and the presence of social inclusion, the regulatory and legal framework, the infrastructure for innovation, research and development, and the adoption and use of ICTs, among others. This part of the Report offers a powerful tool for policy dialogue on various dimensions of innovation—the methodologies developed allow the formulation of policy prescriptions that are country-specific, based on a nation’s development stage and the nature of its political regime.

The second part of the Report contains several papers from leading experts addressing different dimensions of innovation. Among the questions addressed: what has been the impact on countries’ economic growth of increasing access to information and communication technologies? Why is our current patent system so inefficient and how is it undermining innovation? What is the role of good governance in fostering a culture of innovation? What are the myths and the realities of knowledge-led productivity growth? Given that science and innovation can progress in many alternative directions, how can our societies be more deliberate and democratic in choosing which pathways are followed and which not? Is social entrepreneurship the cutting edge of business innovation? What are the key challenges underlying the current global search for the highly skilled? How can innovation be more inclusive, to stimulate more sustainable and equitable patterns of economic growth?

The third part of the Report will present innovation profiles for 68 of the most important countries, which account for the lion’s share of world output.