Seminar “The Innovation Paradox: Developing-Country Capabilities and the Unrealized Promise of Technological Catch-Up”

World Bank Group and JICA Research Institute co-hosed a seminar “The Innovation Paradox: Developing-Country Capabilities and the Unrealized Promise of Technological Catch-up” at JICA Research Institute’s International Conference Hall.

There is vast potential for spurring economic growth by promoting innovation, yet developing countries do surprisingly little when it comes to adopting advanced-country techniques to upgrade their products, technologies, and business processes. Unless private-sector firms and public-sector policymakers in developing economies prioritize the more agile adoption of new technologies and techniques, they will find it difficult to overcome their enduring economic constraints – slow progress in building physical and human capital, under-developed managerial capabilities, and weak government capacity. World Bank Group’s report, “The Innovation Paradox: Developing-Country Capabilities and the Unrealized Promise of Technological Catch-Up”, underscores the challenges that policymakers and entrepreneurs face in capturing the potential gains of innovation.

The seminar was opened by Naohiro Kitano, Director, JICA Research Institute, and Akihiko Nishio, Director of Strategy and Operations, Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions Group (EFI), World Bank Group, followed by a keynote presentation by William F. Maloney, Chief Economist, EFI, Word Bank Group, featuring the key points of this report. Two commentators, Professor Tetsushi Sonobe, Vice President of National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) and Professor Go Shimada, Associate Professor of University of Shizuoka and Visiting Scholar of JICA Research Institute, shared their views.

Program

Opening Remarks

Naohiro Kitano
Director, JICA Research Institute

Akihiko Nishio
Director for Strategy and Operations, Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions Group (EFI), World Bank Group

Keynote Speech

William E. Maloney
Chief Economist, Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions Group (EFI), World Bank Group

Presentation Material: The Innovation Paradox (PDF)

Comments

Tetsushi Sonobe
Vice President, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)

Presentation Material: Comments on Innovation Paradox (PDF)

Go Shimada
Associate Professor, University of Shizuoka and Visiting Scholar, JICA Research Institute

Presentation Material: Comments on World Bank. 2017. The Innovation Paradox (PDF)

Speaker

William E. Maloney Chief Economist, Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions Group (EFI), World Bank Group William F. Maloney is Chief Economist for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions in the World Bank Group.  Previously he was Chief Economist for Trade and Competitiveness and Global Lead on Innovation and Productivity.  Prior to the Bank, he was a Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1990-1997) and then joined, working as Lead Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist for Latin America until 2009.  From 2009 to 2014, he was Lead Economist in the Development Economics Research Group. From 2011 to 2014 he was Visiting Professor at the University of the Andes and worked closely with the Colombian government on innovation and firm upgrading issues.   Mr. Maloney received his PhD in economics from the University of California Berkeley (1990), his BA from Harvard University (1981), and he studied at the University of the Andes in Bogota, Colombia (1982-83).  He has published on issues related to international trade and finance, developing country labor markets, and innovation and growth as well as several flagship publications of the Latin American division of the Bank, including Informality: Exit and Exclusion. Most recently, he published The innovation paradox: Developing Country Capabilities and the Unrealized Potential of Technological Catch-Up. In addition to publications in academic journals, he coauthored Natural Resources: Neither Curse nor Destiny and Lessons from NAFTA, Does What you Export Matter: In Search of Empirical Guidance for Industrial Policy, as well as several flagship publications of the Latin American division of the Bank, most recently Informality: Exit and Exclusion. Mr. Maloney was born in Boston, MA, on August 2, 1959.

Related

Report
The Innovation Paradox : Developing-Country Capabilities and the Unrealized Promise of Technological Catch-Up