Economic development and growth depend as much on social innovations as on technological advances. However, the discourse has often been confined to technological innovations in the industrial sector, with insufficient attention being paid to institutional and organisational change and to the informal sector which in some countries in the South plays a significant role.
Innovation and Development is an interdisciplinary journal that adopts a broad approach to the study of innovation, in all sectors of the economy and sections of society, furthering understanding of the multidimensional process of innovation and development. It provides a forum for the discussion of issues pertaining to innovation, development and their interaction, both in the developed and developing world, with the aim of encouraging sustainable and inclusive growth.
The journal encourages articles that approach the problem broadly in line with innovation system perspective focusing on the evolutionary and institutional structure of innovation and development. This focus cuts across the disciplines of Economics, Sociology, Political Science, Science and Technology Policy, Geography and Development Practice.
In a section entitled Innovation in Practice, the journal includes short reports on innovative experiments with proven development impact with a view to encouraging scholars to undertake systematic inquiries on such experiments. Brief abstracts of degree awarded PhD theses in the broad area of concern for the journal and brief notes which highlight innovative ways of using internet resources and new databases or software are also published.
This special issue of Innovation and Development intends to bring together state-of-the-art analysis and debates of a conceptual, methodological, policy and empirical nature that broaden and deepen the conceptualisation of the role of developmental state in using STI policy to promote structural transformation and inclusive growth in rural communities.
We invite contributions analysing this broad topic in terms of the following aspects:
- Where/how does STI fit into conceptualisation of the developmental state?
- What are the priority areas that a developmental state needs to pursue in order to optimise their efforts and resources for rural development and/ or structural transformation?
- How should a developmental state position its policy to foster the financing, scaling up and wider diffusion of rural/ grassroots innovations and harness them for inclusive development?
- What are the role and limitations of industrial policies in fostering the desired rural transformation?
- How could STI, rural innovation and structural change in developmental states be measured, monitored and assessed?
- To what extent are developmental local governments in rural areas harnessing STI to address the needs of poor residents?
- What is the right balance of resource allocation between innovation support and other priorities for development such as poverty alleviation, education or physical infrastructure?
- Which policies and incentive systems stimulate, encourage and support the broader use of STI in dealing with national and local challenges within developmental states?
- What are the obstacles faced by developmental state governments and private sector actors in their deployment of STI for economic transformation?
Submission Instructions
Submit an abstract of no more than 350-500 words by 30 November 2017 to Dr. Irma Booyens
All abstracts must indicate:
- Title of the proposed manuscript
- Research problem with an explicit connection to the Special Issue Theme
- Conceptual Approach and Methodology
- Author details – including institutional affiliation, email and physical mail addresses
The editors of this Special Issue will inform the authors of selected paper proposals by 15 January 2018.
Authors of invited papers must submit the final manuscripts no later than 30 April 2018. The final manuscript must comply with the style guide of the journal. We look forward to receiving your manuscript!
