Business from technology

I4D - Innovation and development

Innovation is a key driver of development in poor and rich countries. Yet, immediate societal needs, especially poverty, as well as the broader environment for innovation and information society, create specific strategic and structural challenges for developing countries building knowledge based economies and societies.

The on-going sea-change in global economic growth provides another backdrop for our efforts on innovation in emerging and developing countries. Poor and low-income countries have are or have emerged as the major source of global economic growth, and this macro-economic trend will have deep-going effects on how knowledge and innovation are created and implemented across the globe. We want to be at the forefront to understand this phenomenon.

These web pages provide an overview of how our team and projectst at VTT Organizations, Networks, and Innovation Systems-knowledge centre contribute to science, technology and innovation for development, as well as ICT4Ds. We carry out high-quality academic research on innovation and information society in the context of development, and offer also broad range of support services for improving and building innovation systems and information society.

Our centre, supported by other VTT expertise, provides multi-technology expertise on all aspects of innovation and information society, ranging from support to policy makers, to regional systems, research organizations, firms, to specific technological and engineering challenges. Currently, activities of our team focus on Southern and Eastern Africa, Brazil, and to support multilaterial international organizations, but VTT implements projects and serves clients globally.

NEWS

March 2013: Materials from the CEK Colloquium: "Quantitative measurement of research and innovation system transitions", 12-13 March 2013.

January 2013: NEW PROJECT: VTT is parter in the newly launched ALCUE NET project (Latin America, Caribbean and European Union Network on Research and Innovation) is a Research and Innovation policy support project aimed at supporting the international Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) dimension of the Europe 2020 Strategy and Innovation Union Flagship Initiative. Contact Maria Lima-Toivanen at VTT for more information.

January 2013: New publications Hannes Toivanen, Waves of Technological Innovation: The Evolution of the US Pulp and Paper Industry, 1860-2000. InThe Evolution of Global Paper Industry1800-2050. A Comparative Analysis.. Springer Netherlands (2012), 49 - 80. doi-link: 10.1007/978-94-007-5431-7_3

January 2013: New publications: Maria Barbosa Lima-Toivanen, The South American Pulp and Paper Industry: The Cases Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. In: The Evolution of Global Paper Industry1800-2050. A Comparative Analysis. Springer Netherlands (2012), 257 - 302.

January 2013: VTT INNOVATION STUDIES SEMINAR - SPRING 2013 PROGRAMME. Download programme or see seminar website. Note, that we are shifting much of communication (updates, changes, etc) to LinkedIn group "Innovation Studies Finland" - join it to stay updated!

December 2012: Read the newsletter of Building innovation management capacities at UEM here More on the project on its own website.

November 2012: New publication: Hannes Toivanen, "Does the knowledge trap exist? Diverging roles of domestic and foreign capacities for evolution of knowledge creation in China, India, Brazil and Northern and Sub-Saharan AFrica, 1986-2009", paper presented at the 10th Globelics Conference "Innovation and Develoment: Opportunities and Challenges in Globalization, 8-11.11.2012, Hangzhou, China.

November 2012: NEW PROJECT: Finland As A Knowledge Economy Report 2.0. This World Bank commissioned report will analyze recent developments of the Finnish knowledge economy, and is undertaken in collaboration with Ramboll Management Consulting that leads the project. VTT will analyze in detail the relationships between Finland and the emerging economies, as well as the role of innovation and ICT in Finnish development cooperation.

More and older news here.