| Abstract: |
The paper explores existing patterns of green innovation and presents an
overview of green innovation policies for developing countries. The key
findings from the empirical analysis are: (1) frontier green innovations are
concentrated in high-income countries, few in developing countries but
growing; (2) the most technologically-sophisticated developing countries are
emerging as significant innovators but limited to a few technology fields; (3)
there is very little South-South collaboration; (4) there is potential for
expanding green production and trade; and (5) there has been little
base-of-pyramid green innovation to meet the needs of poor consumers, and it
is too early to draw conclusions about its scalability. To promote green
innovation, technology and environmental policies work best in tandem,
focusing on three complementary areas: (1) to promote frontier innovation, it
is advisable to limit local technology-push support to countries with
sufficient technological capabilities -- but there is also a need to provide
global technology-push support for base-of-pyramid and neglected technologies
including through a pool of long-term, stable funds supported by demand-pull
mechanisms such as prizes; (2) to promote catch-up innovation, it is essential
both to facilitate technology access and to stimulate technology absorption by
firms -- with critical roles played by international trade and foreign direct
investment, with firm demand spurred by public procurement, regulations and
standards; and (3) to develop absorptive capacity, there is a need to
strengthen skills and to improve the prevailing business environment for
innovation -- to foster increased experimentation, global learning, and talent
attraction and retention. There is still considerable progress to be made in
ranking green innovation policies as most appropriate for different developing
country contexts -- based on more impact evaluation studies of innovation
policies targeted at green technologies. |