Frontiers of Inclusive Innovation Policy Forum

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Technology and innovation can increase the efficiency, effectiveness, and impact of efforts to meet the ambitions of the 2030 Agenda. On the other hand, technology and innovation has also exacerbated inequalities and created new types of social divides and environmental hazards, establishing new and harder to cross frontiers between those that benefit and the excluded. 

Since 2018, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has been supporting governments across the Asia-Pacific region to formulate more inclusive technology and innovation policies.

ESCAP’s new report on Frontiers of Inclusive Innovation: Formulating technology and innovation policies that leave no one behind explores how inclusivity was addressed in several innovation policies: national science, technology, and innovation (STI) policies; digital economy strategies; initiatives supporting grassroots innovations; and policies promoting inclusive business. The analysis provided in the report was based on the experience of ESCAP and on the insights of stakeholders engaged in these policy formulation processes.

The Frontiers of Inclusive Innovation Policy Forum was organized by ESCAP in collaboration with Digital Pathways at Oxford, the Inclusive Business Action Network (iBAN), the Honey Bee Network, and the Gujarat Grassroots Innovations Augmentation Network (GIAN). It gathered policy makers, experts and practitioners in digital transformation, inclusive innovation, and governance to explore best practices, remaining challenges, and further opportunities to promote inclusive technology and innovation policies.

Watch the highlights of the forum below:

Purpose

The forum’s purpose was to share and explore possible technology and innovation policies that champion inclusion and offer pathways that benefit society, the environment, and the bottom of the economic pyramid. The forum explored technology and innovation policies that have more inclusive outcomes through a series of policy discussions. The discussions focused on good practices and lessons learned in promoting inclusive technology and innovation policies, as well as opportunities to expand the frontiers of inclusive innovation.

To help support governments formulate more inclusive technology and innovation policies, a series of six online sessions were held from November to December 2021:

Policy Discussions

Policy Discussion on Inclusion: The Next Frontier of Innovation
01 November 2021 | 14:00-15:00 (UTC+7)

Explore the next frontier of innovation: inclusion. A policy discussion on good practices and lessons learnt in promoting inclusive technology and innovation policies.

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Recording
Expanding frontiers of inclusive innovation: The way forward
03 December 2021 | 14:00-15:30 (UTC+7)

A policy discussion on opportunities to expand the frontiers of inclusive innovation. The session will summarize key recommendations and suggestions for promoting technology and innovation policies that leave no one behind.

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Recording

Policy Exchanges

Designing policies for inclusive digital economies
03 November 2021 | 14:00-16:00 (UTC+7)

This session will go into the crucial objective of digital inclusion, and the challenges and opportunities policymakers face to expand the frontiers of digital inclusion.

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Session 2: Formulating Inclusive Science, Technology, and Innovation Policies
16 November 2021 | 14:00-16:00 (UTC+7)

Explore how different countries are formulating inclusive science, technology, and innovation (STI) policies. The session will discuss various dimensions of inclusive STI policies and identify means to design for inclusion.

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Session 3: Promoting grassroots innovation at the policy level
17 November 2021 | 14:00-16:00 (UTC+7)

Dive into the importance of promoting grassroots innovations, through community voices, experiences from India, Malaysia and The Philippines, and key findings from the report.

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Inclusive business: Innovating to deliver solutions for low-income people
29 November 2021 | 14:00-16:00 (UTC+7)

Delve deeper into opportunities to promote inclusive growth through generating synergies among efforts that promote inclusive businesses, social enterprises, and impact investment.

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REPORT: Frontiers of Inclusive Innovation: Formulating technology and innovation policies that leave no one behind

This report highlights the opportunities and challenges that policymakers and development partners have to expand the frontiers of inclusive innovation. When inclusion is the next frontier of technology, STI policies are designed differently: With broader objectives than just economic growth, with social development and sustainable economies in mind; and they are inclusive in terms of aspiring to enable everyone to benefit from – and participate in – innovative activities.

Governments can add an inclusive lens to STI policies by considering the following questions:

Four questions

This report explores how these four dimensions of inclusivity are addressed in several innovation policies: national STI policies; digital economy strategies; initiatives supporting grassroots innovations; and policies promoting inclusive business.

Cover report

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Additional readings and resources

Inclusive innovation policies

Science, technology, and innovation policies 

Inclusive digital strategies

Grassroots innovations

Inclusive business

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