Sharing Usable Knowledge for Innovative Solutions

The search for innovative policy solutions for competitiveness and job creation, customized for the conditions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Europe and Central Asia (ECA) regions, has brought about 80 policy makers, private sector experts, academics, members of the donor community, journalists and civil society representatives to Prague this week for a two-day conference..

The workshop, the first cross-regional event on innovation, is being sponsored by the World Bank's MENA and ECA regions and the World Bank Institute, in cooperation with CzechInvest and the Korean Development Institute School (KDIS). Discussions will revolve around the link between innovation policy, job creation, entrepreneurship, and the role of universities in technology commercialization. The gathering provides an opportunity for participants from the MENA region to benefit from the hands-on experiences of ECA countries in designing and implementing successful innovation (or industrial) policies.

"Innovation is a critical element of economic growth, for every nation," said Janamitra Devan, Vice President of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. "Evidence shows that - on average, worldwide - half of a country's long-term growth is due to innovation and technology enhancements. Yet there is no 'one size fits all' approach to innovation: Each country needs to take a holistic approach to shaping an innovation policy that is appropriate to its own particular conditions."
This practitioner exchange mobilizes cross-regional knowledge and expertise to identify good-practice solutions on the "how to" of formulating and implementing innovation policies, tailored to the needs of participating countries.

Lessons from ECA's experience are being presented, and participants plan to discuss how the region can pioneer new dimensions in the "knowledge economy" agenda and become an incubator for frontier practices. Knowledge-driven growth and innovation has gained momentum in the ECA region where countries have begun to capitalize on their human capital endowments to grow their knowledge economies.

"In order to unleash the innovation potential that exists in Central Europe and the Middle East, innovation policies will have to be 'smarter'," said Gerardo Corrochano, Director of the World Bank's Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship global practice. "Public expenditures, in particular, will need to be more focused, better monitored and systematically evaluated so that governments can continue to adjust their priorities according to evolving country needs."

Countries in the MENA and ECA regions are re-evaluating their approaches to growth and competitiveness in favor of more active government support to higher-value-added industries and services, through technology acquisition, innovation, and entrepreneurship programs.

MENA countries have expressed an interest in learning from ECA's economic dynamism and transformation over the past decade. Innovation policy is seen as less robust in MENA, where no country has exhibited the kind of technological dynamism and economic transformation that have been seen in some fast-growing ECA countries. For example, MENA's average number of registered businesses per 1,000 people is about one-sixth of that in the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, and less than one-third of that in ECA.

The World Bank expects that the demand for more cross-regional dialogue and partnerships on innovation policy and entrepreneurship will increase, and that networks and communities of practice for sharing knowledge and expertise among peers will continue to grow.

For more information please contact the CzechInvest Press Centre

Štěpánka Filipová, spokesperson, phone: +420 296 342 538, stepanka.filipova@czechinvest.org

Contacts to The World Bank :

In Prague: Milan Deutsch, EMD consulting, phone: +420 775 556 587, Milan.deutsch@emd-pr.cz
In Washington: Lara Saade, phone: 202-473-9887, lsaade@worldbank.org

CzechInvest is celebrating its 20th anniversary!

CzechInvest has been supporting the inflow of foreign direct investments to the Czech Republic for twenty years already. Since its establishment in 1992, the agency has mediated 1,798 investment projects with the total value of more than CZK 715 billion, thanks to which nearly a quarter of a million new jobs have been created. CzechInvest contributes to improving the overall business environment in the Czech Republic and strives to increase the competitiveness of the Czech economy in changing conditions. Since 2004, the agency has also operated as the implementation body for EU structural funds and has regional offices staffed by specialists in every regional capital in the Czech Republic. CzechInvest’s CEO, Miroslav Křížek, was named Manager of the Year 2011 in the Business and Public Services sector.