The Diffusion of Innovation in Low Income Countries

技术创新是发展中国家工业化和追赶的关键因素。由于创新成本高、风险大、路径依赖，突破性创新高度集中在少数富裕国家和少数公司中。在大多数国家，外国技术来源占生产率增长的很大一部分。如果外国技术易于扩散和采用，技术落后的国家可以通过获取和更快速地部署最先进的技术迅速赶上（Eaton and Kortum, 1995; Bell and Pavitt, 1993）。因此，可以通过利用现有知识和专门技能来支持低收入国家的发展进程。因此，向低收入国家转让、采用和调整知识是经济增长和全球发展的一个重要问题。然而，技术扩散和采用既不是无成本的，也不是无条件的（Keller, 2004）。它依赖于大量和有针对性的技术努力（Lall, 1992）以及足够的人力和财政资源和吸收能力（Cohen和Levinthal， 1989）。它需要适当的制度和政策来激励和促进这一过程，此外还需要强大的地方能力来确定正确的技术和适当的转让机制，并根据当地的经济、社会、技术和环境条件吸收和适应（Fu, et al., 2011）。现有的文献大多集中在发达国家或发展中国家。我们对低收入国家（lic）的这些问题和关系的理解是有限的。将创新定义为新产品或流程，或新的管理、组织或营销实践（其中“新”意味着对世界或对国家或公司来说是新的），该项目旨在通过探索在制度、资源和可负担性限制下低收入国家有效创新创造、扩散和采用的决定因素和传播渠道来填补知识空白。特别是，它旨在：-了解在制度、资源和可负担性限制下，低收入国家创新创造和传播的障碍以及创新政策的空间；-分析知识在低收入国家从领先创新者向后来者扩散的决定因素，特别是大学-工业联系和公司间网络的作用；-研究外部知识扩散对低收入国家的影响，特别是南南贸易和外国直接投资对生产率的影响，特别关注中国在非洲的贸易和外国直接投资；-发展中小企业开放式创新网络模式，增加低收入国家较贫穷社会的节俭创新。该研究与发展研究、技术与创新研究、全球化和区域研究有着广泛的联系。它将通过填补目前关于低收入国家创新和相关工业、贸易和科技政策的文献空白，为文献做出贡献。这将是第一个系统地了解低收入国家企业层面创新创造和扩散的制约因素，并探索克服这些障碍的新创新模式和政策的研究之一。中小企业开放式创新网络框架将有助于发展研究和创新研究的理论发展。该项目还将产生一系列严格的经验证据，填补文献中的重要空白。研究结果将对低收入国家的政策制定者和从业者具有重要的政策和实际意义。该项目还将编制关于低收入国家创新扩散的新颖调查数据集，供更广泛的研究使用。政策报告和最佳实践指南将对低收入国家的决策者、企业管理人员、教育工作者和学生有用。

Technological innovation is a key element of industrialisation and catch-up in developing countries. Since innovation is costly, risky and path-dependent, groundbreaking innovation is highly concentrated in a few rich countries and amongst a small number of firms. Foreign sources of technology account for a large part of productivity growth in most countries. If foreign technologies are easy to diffuse and adopt, a technologically backward country can catch up rapidly through the acquisition and more rapid deployment of the most advanced technologies (Eaton and Kortum, 1995; Bell and Pavitt, 1993). Therefore, the development process in low income countries can be supported by tapping existing knowledge and know-how. The transfer, adoption and adaptation of knowledge to low income countries hence constitute an important issue for economic growth and global development. However, technology diffusion and adoption is neither costless nor unconditional (Keller, 2004). It relies on substantial and well-directed technological efforts (Lall, 1992) as well as sufficient human and financial resources and absorptive capacity (Cohen and Levinthal, 1989). It requires appropriate institutions and policies to incentivise and facilitate the process in addition to strong local capabilities to identify the right technology and appropriate transfer mechanism, and to absorb and make adaptations according to local economic, social, technical and environmental conditions (Fu, et al., 2011). Much of the existing literature focuses on developed countries or developing countries in general. Our understanding of these issues and relationships in the low income countries (LICs) specifically is limited. Defining innovation as a new product or process, or new management, organisational or marketing practices (where 'new' means new to the world or new to the country or the firm) this project aims to fill in the knowledge gap by exploring determinants and transmission channels for effective innovation creation, diffusion and adoption in LICs under institutional, resource and affordability constraints. In particular, it aims to:-Understand the barriers to innovation creation and diffusion in LICs under institutional, resource and affordability constraints and the space for innovation policy;-Analyse the determinants of knowledge diffusion in LICs from leading innovators to latecomers, in particular the role of university-industry linkage and inter-firm networks; -Examine the effect of external knowledge diffusion to LICs, in particular the productivity impact of South-South trade and FDI with a special focus on Chinese trade and FDI in Africa; -Develop an SME open innovation network model to increase frugal innovation for the poorer societies in LICs. The research has wide relevance to Development Studies, Technology and Innovation Studies and Globalisation and Area Studies. It will contribute to the literature by filling current gaps in the literature on innovation and relevant industrial, trade, and science and technology policies in LICs. It will be one of the first systematic studies to understand the constraints to innovation creation and diffusion at the firm level in LICs and explore new innovation models and policies to overcome these barriers. The SMEs open innovation network framework will contribute to theory development in Development Studies and Innovation Studies. The project will also produce a bundle of rigorous empirical evidence that fills important gaps in the literature. Findings from the research will have important policy and practical implications for policy makers and practitioners in LICs. The project will also produce a novel survey dataset on innovation diffusion in LICs which will be made available for wider research. The policy reports and best practice guidebooks will be useful to policy makers, business managers and educators and students in LICs.