Closing the Knowledge Gap

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Closing the Knowledge Gap

• Innovation, Access to Knowledge and Uneven
  Development
• Padmashree Gehl Sampath, Ph.D.
• Open University and United Nations University,
  MERIT

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Nearly there! the Queen repeated. Why, we
passed it ten minutes ago! Faster! And they
ran on for a time in silence, with the wind
whistling in Alices ears, and almost blowing her
hair off, she fancied. Now! Now! cried the
Queen. Faster! Faster! And they went so fast
that at last they seemed to skim through the air,
hardly touching the ground with their feet, till
suddenly, just as Alice was getting quite
exhausted, they stopped, and she found herself
sitting on the ground, breathless and giddy. The
Queen propped her up against a tree, and said
kindly, You may rest a little now. Alice
looked around her in great surprise. Why, I do
believe we have been under this tree the whole
time! Everythings just as it was! Of course
it is said the Queen. What would you have it?
Well, in our country, said Alice, still panting
a little, youd generally get to somewhere else
if you ran very fast for a long time, as weve
been doing. A slow sort of country! said the
Queen. Now, here, you see, it takes all the
running you can do, to keep in the same place.
If you want to get somewhere else, you must run
at least twice as fast as that! Source Alice
through the Looking Glass
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Projects and Case studies

• How the knowledge gap impedes access to and
• the promotion of creativity in the developing
• world?
• Link between innovation, A2K and uneven
  development
• IPRs and their impact on innovation
• A2K to promote knowledge production and
  creativity

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Innovation, A2K and uneven development

• Triangular relationship between innovation,
  development and knowledge.
• Innovation encompasses the factors affecting
  demand for and use of knowledge in novel and
  useful ways. The notion of novelty is fundamental
  to invention the process of creating local
  change, new to the user is fundamental to
  innovation.

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Innovation, A2K and Development

• Systematic differences in innovation (thus
  defined) depends not only on the access but also
  performance of formal and informal institutions
  for knowledge and innovation across different
  kinds of countries.

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Six broad patterns that distinguish regions

• Patterns of RD and wealth creation

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• As Metcalfe (2003) observes, every economy,
  always and everywhere, is a knowledge economy
  for social systems and economies as social
  systems, could not be arranged otherwise.
• Other important patterns are
• Patterns of knowledge networks
• Patterns of formal and informal education, and
  prevalence of particular kinds of knowledge
  domains
• Patterns of innovation systems
• Patterns of collaboration access for what?

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Ranking of countries according to knowledge
index, 1998-2003
USA
Frontier countries
France
UK
Germany
Switzerland
Fast followers
Late followers
South Africa
Nigeria
Chile
China
Vitenam
India
Thailand
Argentina
Bangladesh
Source Oyeyinka and Gehl Sampath, 2008
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Micro-evidence from innovation systems surveys in
the pharmaceutical sector

• Can IPRs be a barrier to innovation?
• What prevents LDCs from becoming exporters of
  medicines?
• Access to information is not enough for
  creativity and knowledge capacity.
• Barriers to exports pre-qualification, brand
  building, economies of scale
• Trade issues donations?

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Restrictions in Licensing Agreements in
the Pharmaceutical Sector Data from India, Kenya
and Bangladesh, Gehl Sampath, 2008.
Capabilities and difficulty in access to
knowledge tools are directly proportional Kenya
most unsevere, Bangladesh next and India most
severe.
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Direct and indirect impact of IPRs on learning in
LDCs
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Empirical work on knowledge capacity in over ten
countries and different sectors

• Knowledge is convergent and path dependent new
  rules reinforce old divisions
• Collaborative linkages are key to enabling
  innovation systems devise solutions

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• THANK YOU