Closing the loop between ideas and results
By Webmaster, 7 September 2010
There is a trade-off between efficiency and innovation. Established businesses are built for efficiency, which depends on predictability and repeatability. But innovation is by definition unpredictable and uncertain. Customised rules that guide the innovation process may lead to more predicatable outcomes.
The Merits of Innovation Prizes
By Webmaster, 9 August 2010
Incentive prizes do spur innovation. A study that investigated agricultural inventions in 19th-century Britain found a link between prizes and subsequent patents. The Royal Agricultural Society awarded nearly 2,000 prizes from 1839 to 1939, some worth £1m ($1.6m) in today’s money. The study found that not only were prize-winners more likely to receive and renew patents, but that even losing contestants sought patents for more than 13,000 inventions.
Mens sana in corpore sano
By Webmaster, 16 July 2010
Research suggests that the control of diseases is crucial to a country’s development in a way that had not been appreciated before. Places that harbour a lot of parasites and pathogens not only suffer the debilitating effects of disease on their workforces, but also have their human capital eroded, child by child, from birth.
A manifesto for innovation in developing countries
By Webmaster, 23 June 2010
Global research and development spending has risen but it has failed to benefit or involve the poor, according to a ’manifesto’ for developing world science launched yesterday (15 June).
Special Issue on Industrial Policy, Growth and Development
10 June 2010
ATDF Journal plans to publish a special issue on industrial policy, growth and development
Industrial Policy refers to government supported policies intended to provide an enabling environment or a f avorable economic climate for the development of industry or specific industrial sectors. The discourse on industrial policy raises the prospect of a greater role for government in economic policy and has therefore evoked strong passions from either side of the debate. However, the (...)
Industrial Policy refers to government supported policies intended to provide an enabling environment or a f avorable economic climate for the development of industry or specific industrial sectors. The discourse on industrial policy raises the prospect of a greater role for government in economic policy and has therefore evoked strong passions from either side of the debate. However, the (...)
Your daily fix of entrepreneurial ideas:
By Webmaster, 3 June 2010
Springwise and its network of 8,000 spotters scan the globe for smart new business ideas, delivering instant inspiration to entrepreneurial minds.
Time to start the next big thing!
Turning African Agriculture into a Business: A reader
By Webmaster, 29 May 2010
African agriculture is a sleeping giant. Agribusiness remains in its infancy in most sub-Saharan African countries. It would require sizeable investments in irrigation, storage, transport infrastructure and logistics, as well as better access to markets for inputs (fertilizers, seeds, planting materials and credit).
Just published: UNCTAD Technology and Innovation Report 2010
By Webmaster, 25 May 2010
UNCTAD“s Technology and Innovation Report 2010 discusses ways to enhance food security in Africa through science, technology and innovation. According to the report, the main challenge is to strengthen the innovation capabilities of African agricultural systems as a means of reducing poverty, improving food security and achieving broader economic growth and development.
