Transcript Innovation - Lancaster University

The Atlas of Ideas:
Towards Cosmopolitan Innovation
Dr David Tyfield
IAS, Lancaster University
Emerging BRICs Economies and Innovation:
Implications for Innovation Policies in Europe
INNO-Views Policy Workshop, Brussels, 9th July 2009
Overview
• Changes in global distribution of innovation capacity,
particularly in BRICs
• Opportunity for EU…. or threat?
• Opportunity… imperative… and with costs
• Definition of innovation is key
• ‘International Division of Innovative Labour’ (IDIL)
• International collaboration as explicit, positive policy choice
• International collaboration to direct innovation on a global
scale towards desired goals
• Illustration of EU-China low-carbon innovation
• Policy considerations
Questions
• How is the global geography of innovation
changing?
• What are the opportunities for international
collaboration between the EU and the BRICs?
• What are the challenges or constraints?
• What policies are needed?
www.atlasofideas.org
• Phase 1 (‘06-’07):
China, India & South Korea
• Phase 2 (‘07-present):
Brazil
Knowledge Nomads
Islamic World
EU-China Low Carbon Networks
China & India: International Comparison
CHINA
INDIA
Other
Annual Science Budget
(US$ bn 2005)
8.75
4.5
US: 29 to Universities alone
R&D/GDP (% 2005)
1.3
0.8
US 2.7; Japan 3.2; EU15 1.9
S&E Graduate
Enrolments (x1000 2004)
3,000
2,200
US 476; UK 84
SCI Publications (2004)
46,000
15,600
US 215,000; UK 58,800
Publication Impact
Factor
0.3
0.3
US 1.0; UK 0.9; Germany 0.8
Top 100 Science
Universities (2006)
6 (10 w/HK)
3
US 52; UK 24; France 10
US Patents (2006)
661 (969
w/HK)
481
US 89823; Japan 36807;
Germany 10005; Taiwan 6360;
S Korea 5908;UK 3585
China ≠ India
CHINA
INDIA
2,668 (5.5%)
906 (1.9%)
GDP Growth pa (% 2005)
9.9
8.2
Gross FDI as % GDP (average 1993-2002)
5.4
0.6
Share of World Exports (% 2003)
6
0.8
Hi-Tech Exports (% Manf’d exports 2002)
23
5
Corps in Fortune Global 500/ 100 (2007)
24/3
6/0
Corps in Forbes Small Business 200 (2002)
4
13
Literacy (% 2000)
91
68 (men)/ 45 (women)
Population on < $1 day (% 2003)
17
34.7
SCI Publications (2004)
46,000
15,600
STEM PhDs Awarded (2004)
16,500
≈6,500
GDP (US$ bn 2006)/ (% Global GDP)
The Hall of Mirrors: Impressive or Not?
• Problems of per capita stats divided by 1 billion.
• Continuing disparities of scientific elite and massive
peasantry
• Extraordinary rate of change
• E.g. King (2004): India & China rated poorly on top
1% cited publications & publications/GDP
BUT India & China rated top in publications and
citations per (GDP per capita)
• BOTH STORIES ARE CORRECT
Researchers per 1000 Employed
vs. R&D Expenditure
Researchers per 1 000 employment (2)
12
Japan
114
10
285
United States
8
Russian Federation
Chinese Taipei
14
17
6
211
EU25
4
China
2
R&D expenditures
in billions of current PPP (1)
85
India (2000-01)
21
0
0
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
GERD as % of GDP
Source: OECD (2005) S, T & I Scoreboard
4
China: Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
• Focused government policy & mobilisation of resources
• Largest scientific workforce & improving quality
• 15 year plan targets domestic firms and academic commercialisation
• MNC R&D and returnees – a self-fulfilling cycle?
Weaknesses
• Command and control – compatible with innovation?
• Quality – only top universities (e.g. 50/1731), slower rise in citations
• Still little domestic investment in innovation
• Cultures of science & innovation – continuing problems with
confidentiality, critical thought and rote-learning
India: Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
• Democratic dividend
• Huge scientific labour force
• Large and semi-resident diaspora
• Not just Bengalooru
Weaknesses
• Disjointed innovation
• Follower not a leader?
• “Licence Raj” and cultures/institutions supportive of entrepreneurs
• Creaking infrastructure
Preliminary Conclusions
• Emergence, if not imminent dominance, of BRICs in science
and innovation
• ‘BRICs’? – China ≠ India (≠ Brazil ≠ Russia)
• Big Question re innovation, globalization and socio-economic
development:
What does rise of BRICs innovation mean for EU (or US…)?
or
What are the opportunities and challenges re international
collaboration?
• Challenge of techno-nationalism/ techno-blocism
Dangers of Techno-Blocism: ‘Divided We Fall’
• Prima facie crucial current importance of international collaboration:
•
•
•
•
Climate change: post-Kyoto deal
Need expedited global roll-out of low-carbon innovation
Global economy in crisis  Protectionism? Mercantilism?
Simply reacting to a changing ‘globalization’
• Response hinges on definition of ‘innovation’ (and ‘globalization’) and
the conceptualized relation with economic growth (in ‘this’ locality).
• Both questions become insistent in context of profound global
challenges
• Why is innovation important? Why is international collaboration
important? With the BRICs?
• What kind of innovation and international collaboration are we trying
to encourage?
‘Innovation’  ‘Economic Growth’?
• NOT just S&T or R&D
• ‘Venturesome’ consumption, (localised) services, complex process of
global networks (Bhidé); ‘democratized’, user-led (von Hippel); open
(Chesbrough) and non-proprietary; disruptive (Christensen).
BUT ALSO a socio-political process:
• Diverse social forms of innovation (much of which is localised)
• Socio-political contexts of socio-technical change
• Contested and competitive re building innovative & absorptive
capacity, attracting investment and well-paid, high quality jobs etc…
Related to economic growth in complex ways
AND Crucial questions of direction and not just scale
• Broader definition of innovation also crucial for an effective lowcarbon transition
Globalization of Innovation:
The International Division of Innovative Labour
• Bhidé: Complex global networks of innovative activity (GINs), limited
offshoring, importance of (localized) services and consumption
Optimistic non-zero sum global implications
• IDIL cf ‘Division of Labour’ in Adam Smith’s Pin Factory
• Similarly productive/ emergent effects
• Similarly contested: e.g. where is profitable step located?
• Dissimilarly complex and uncoordinated, hence unpredictable
• Even non-zero sum may accrue overwhelmingly to one side in
uneven and unequal global process of economic development
• Dangers of over-optimistic analysis for effective international
collaboration, which must be based on mutual benefit
• Goal must be to optimize (not just maximize) emergent benefits,
hence deploying (not just mitigating) contestation
Globalization of Innovation:
3 Perspectives
Globalization
Innovation
International
Collaboration
Climate Change
Technoblocism/
‘Pessimism’
Given process,
Global race of
competitiveness ,
‘Flat’ world
R&D/ ‘technology’
creates economic
growth, which accrues
to that country (where
sticky tacit knowledge
located)
Exploitation of
opportunities to
increase
competitiveness
O/w discouraged as
threat
Not considered
or
Goal is to reduce
GHGs by
technological fix
Technoglobalism
/ ‘Optimism’
Differentiated
process (sectors,
business size,
localities), Limited
off-shoring in fact,
Non-zero sum
Importance of sales
and consumption,
services, users,
complex global
networks, circulation
of tacit knowledge
Non-zero sum, Rise
of BRICs an
opportunity and/or
inconsequential for
US/EU
‘Global problem
requires global
solution’
‘Cosmopolitan
Innovation’/
‘Realism’
Complex and
localized process
under construction,
Both non-zero sum
and competitive
dynamics,
Emergent global
complexities
PLUS socio-political
process:
- Social forms
- Social contexts to
trajectories
- Importance of civic
engagement with
innovation’s publics
‘IDIL’:
Rise of BRICs an
opportunity, an
imperative and a
challenge that must
be engaged with
and can’t have
former without
latter
Global social
problem
dependent on
specific local
circumstances,
Appropriate
innovation
including IC
Why is Innovation Important?
• Innovation direction not just scale  Not necessarily good
• Not just about economic growth/productivity (and for ‘us’)
• Crucial for socio-economic trajectories of development towards desired
ways of life:
• Which innovation? ‘Desired’ by whom?  (Global) politics and policy
(Taking the European Knowledge Society Seriously (TEKSS) DG
Research 2008)
• Climate change & Low Carbon Innovation and other global challenges
• BRICs – growing emissions and cannot follow same development path
as EU & US.
 Shifting global politics and the BRICs:
• Global economic crisis
• Global geopolitical transition?
• ‘Global’ emergence
Why is International Collaboration Important?
With BRICs? With EU?
• It isn’t always and in every case!
 Specific domains, businesses, partners etc… and no generalized case
Mutual Benefits (vs. techno-blocism)
• Reactive: firm level opportunities (in some sectors etc…) given globalization
• Local ‘buzz’ and global ‘pipelines’ complementary  non-zero sum
• Unpredictable emergent benefits of IDIL  expedite low carbon shift (LCS)
Directly Engage with Emergent Challenges (vs. techno-globalism 
‘cosmopolitan innovation’)
• Acute imperative to avoid protectionist collapse and catastrophic CC: costs
of globalization of innovation are greatly preferable to those of its reversal
• Towards joint global forging of socio-technical trajectories, sensitive to local
needs and capacities, esp. re LCS
• Development of cosmopolitan global public sphere for ongoing debate
about directions of innovation inc. low carbon innovation
International Collaboration with China
in Low Carbon Innovation
• Opportunities for innovation collaboration with BRICs?
• No generalized answer so specific cases
• Opportunity, Imperative and with Costs
• International is a policy choice and not an easy choice
• Need explicit and definitive case for international collaboration while
acknowledging the costs
• Policy vision of profound changes, from crises, to low-carbon BRICsinclusive globalized society
 EU moving with, incubating and steering this ongoing transition
through diverse innovation and public engagement
• Illustration: UK ESRC/AIM project on EU-China Low Carbon
Networks
• Energy, Mobility and Agriculture
Opportunities for Collaboration
EU with China
China with EU
• Market opportunities
• Largest single market
• Large, cheaper, industrious and
• Strong trading partners and similar
increasingly skilled workforce
energy concerns
• Potential for quick, cheap and massive • Technological and research expertise
roll-out
• Improve indigenous innovation
• Domain specific opportunities e.g.
capacity
drought, coal, cars…
• Access to international publications/
• Relative lack of lock-in (tho’ quickly
increase impact
changing)
• Cosmopolitan experience
• Massive investment and growth
prospects  ‘On what?’
• Investment in future links/ funding
opportunities
Imperatives for Collaboration
Expediting decarbonization, of both China and EU
Expedite innovation catch-up in China
Need for aggregated efforts for critical mass
Maximize impact of existing science, technology and
innovation
• Maximally capitalize upon exceptional opportunities for low
carbon innovation in China
• Assist China towards a new development path that breaks with
historical precedent (of EU, US, Japan etc…)
• Entrench and mould cosmopolitan culture of collaboration and
maximize mutual learning to smooth integration of China into
heart of global political economy
•
•
•
•
Constraints on Collaboration
1) Incidental barriers to maximization:
• Language barriers and different business culture
• Rote-learning and scientific hierarchy (China)
• Inadequate long-term funding for joint projects & lack of
effective integration (EU)
• Lack of platforms for SME ties
2) Intrinsic costs of maximization:
• IPRs (esp. for SMEs)
• Technology Transfer
• Utter priority of national project of economic growth (China)
• Cost to EU of incubating competitors for medium-term in key
‘green’ sectors of the future
Constraints on Collaboration 2
3) Constraints on optimization
• Lack of incentives for low carbon innovation (e.g. fossil fuel
subsidies or protection of high-carbon industries)
• Techno-nationalist arguments and policy-making  treating
benefits in purely economic terms
• Absence of explicit argument and policy in support of a
progressive IDIL that will, in turn, contribute to construction of
attractive future societies
• Opaque political culture (China)
• Dangers of protectionism, electoral cynicism and rise of far
right (EU)
Considerations for EU-BRICs IC Policy:
Towards Cosmopolitan Innovation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Focus on specific opportunities with specific partners
Innovation to what ends?
Make EU an attractive place to innovate (≠ R&D) and live
Enable innovation to emerge from unpredictable quarters
Deepen measures for public engagement (TEKSS)
Engage with BRICs to incubate equal partners and an
emergent global order (of innovation)
7. Make strong case for importance of international
collaboration despite, if not because of, its costs
谢谢
We gratefully note the funding of the ESRC and AIM
EU/China Low Carbon Project Team:
Dr David Tyfield [email protected]
Prof John Urry [email protected]
Dr James Wilsdon [email protected]
Prof Brian Wynne [email protected]
Demos/Royal Society “Atlas of Ideas” Team:
Kirsten Bound, Natalie Day, Charles Leadbeater, James Keeley,
Jack Stilgoe & Molly Webb www.atlasofideas.org