Inclusive innovation: an architecture for policy development

By Joanna Chataway, R. Hanlin, Raphael Kaplinsky. 2014

276 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The past two decades have been characterized by an increasing uncoupling of economic growth and social and economic development. Outside of China, the numbers living in absolute poverty have remained stubbornly large; in Africa, they have increased substantially. Although this uncoupling has multiple sources, the trajectory of innovation (large in scale, capital intensive in nature and destructive of the environment) has contributed to these outcomes. Reorienting towards a more ‘inclusive innovation’ path has an important role to play in overcoming exclusion. However, we have only a weak understanding of the definition, nature and dynamics of inclusive innovation, and this paper seeks to fill this conceptual gap. It argues that inclusive innovation needs to be understood and developed in the context of a holistic conception of the innovation cycle, the distinction between process and product innovation and the roles played by the poor as both producers and consumer. It further charts the growing interest of private sector actors in inclusive innovation (including, but not confined to transnational corporations seeking the ‘fortune at the bottom of the pyramid’) and large global funds working in tandem with the private sector and governments. Consideration is also given to the role which growth trajectories play in determining the direction of innovation and in promoting linkages between the globally absolute poor (incomes below $1pd) and those with discretionary cash incomes living in the margins above $1pd. The paper concludes with a call for a more holistic and balanced approach to inclusive innovation to be adopted by a range of stakeholders so that resources are deployed most effectively to aid the recoupling of growth and development.

Subfields: Business and International Management, Management of Technology and Innovation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e16604395b83ecf24509a566a55ba4994bd83566

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Citations in the corpus

New models of inclusive innovation for development (2014, background): “The Tata Nano car is an oft-cited example of frugal innovation but – with a minimum price of c. US$2,500 – it is way beyond the means of the more than 3 billion who live on less than US$2.5 per day (World Bank 2013b).”
The Creation and Diffusion of Innovation in Developing Countries : A Systematic Literature Review (2016, unknown): “The so-called inclusive innovation focuses on the impact of innovation on the people living in the lowest income groups (Chataway et al., 2013).”
Innovation and productivity in formal and informal firms in Ghana (2017, unknown): “The so-called inclusive innovation focuses on the impact of innovation on the people living in the lowest income groups (Chataway et al., 2013).”
Framing inclusive innovation within the discourse of development: Insights from case studies in India (2018, background): “The market-based framing observed in two of the three cases was also prominent in a recent case study we undertook in Bangladesh (Pansera and Owen, 2015) and has been noted by other authors (see for example a recent synthesis by Chataway et al, 2014).”
Three frames for innovation policy: R&D, systems of innovation and transformative change (2018, background): “, 2012), innovation from the bottom of the pyramid (London and Hart, 2004), and inclusive innovation (Chataway et al., 2014).”