Why Emerging Economies Need Social Policy: the Cases of China and India
Development Innovations for Inclusive Growth
Why Focus on Development Innovations and Structural Transformation for Inclusive Growth?
Recent evidence suggests that for developing countries, the structure of their economies can make for vulnerability to crises particularly if they have high levels of export dependence and concentration and if they focus primarily on commodities as opposed to manufactured goods and services. (See UNCTAD 2008, Rodrik , 2005)
More importantly, it is also becoming evident that the structure of their economies also matters with regard to the potential to create jobs and undertake economic and social upgrading all of which are vital for the economic and social sustainability and resilience of their growth paths. In addition, the structure of the economy matters if their growth paths are to be accompanied by an inclusive and affordable access to services and quality of life, in particular as regards access to healthcare and energy in the context of adapting to climate change (see UNCTAD , UN DESA 2009 ) .
What this implies is that a focus on innovation, structural transformation and productive capabilities, as well as productive inclusion need to be mainstreamed into development polices if growth is to be inclusive and resilient (see Cimoli et. al , 2008; Mackintosh , 2007; Ocampo , 2005 Rodrik , 2004; Shafaeddin 2005; UNCTAD , ILO , UNIDO ) ). In this regard, we are seeing a revival of interest in industrial and structural transformation policies. There is also a growing awareness of the need for and the opportunity to adopt a longer term development perspective in the context of the response to the recent crisis.
Our Work:
Given that we work and live in the post-TRIPS environment, the work of the development innovation team focuses on identifying policy space to support innovations and to foster structural transformation in the context of addressing various development imperatives. In 2010, the focus was on assessing whether selected policies adopted by emerging economies to better meet affordable health access and/or national health emergencies on the one hand and inclusive access to energy in the context of climate change imperatives on the other also had the potential to foster R&D and productive capabilities in the health and sustainable energy sectors .
In this context, the team focuses on eco-innovation ( to address energy constraints in more sustainable ways and to foster green jobs) , health innovation ( to e nsure affordable and inclusive access to essential medicines;) and social innovation ( to provide social protection and stimulate job creation while addressing deficits in provision of infrastructure and services) .
See below in order to find out more about how we concretely focus on these themes:
