Innovation Performance Reviews are a major new focus of work for the Economic Cooperation and Integration Division. Initiated at the request of member state Governments, they are a participatory policy advisory service examining possible policy actions to stimulate innovation activities, enhance innovation capacity and improve the efficiency of national innovation systems. Reviews follow outlines agreed upon with requesting Governments, and are prepared in collaboration with international and national experts, and the  UNECE secretariat.

The first such exercise was carried out at the request of the Government of the Republic of Belarus. Following the success of this Review, a similar exercise was carried out for the Republic of Kazakhstan, the outcomes of which are now available as official publications online. Reviews were carried out by groups of international experts in close cooperation with the national authorities and local experts. The Eurasian Development Bank provided valuable extrabudgetary financial support for these Reviews, with logistical support provided by the respective Governments and UNDP country offices.

Conclusions and recommendations of the Reviews are intended to contribute to significantly improving the regulatory and institutional framework for innovation, with an emphasis on relevance and usefulness for policy making. They serve as a basis for ongoing capacity building to support the implementation of policy measures in the countries concerned.

The Government of Ukraine requested an Innovation Performance Review at the sixth session of the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Integration in December 2011. The Innovation Performance Review of Ukraine is now available online.

At the seventh session of the Committee in December 2012, Armenia requested the secretariat to carry out an Innovation Performance Review.