The overall aim of the subprogramme on economic cooperation and integration is the promotion of a policy, financial and regulatory environment conducive to economic growth, innovative development and higher competitiveness in the UNECE region, with a particular focus on countries with economies in transition. The work accomplished includes the elaboration of policy-oriented guidelines and recommendations, training materials, advisory services and other capacity-building activities along five focus areas. The year 2008 marked the end of the first biennial programme of work cycle.
During the meeting of the Team of Specialists on Innovation and Competitiveness Policies in February 2008, an applied policy seminar was organized that provided an opportunity for different stakeholder groups to discuss and share practical experiences on policy options and instruments for enhancing the innovative capacity and innovation performance of firms. The discussions supplied substantive inputs for the compilation of a comparative review of government policies facilitating technological development and innovation, which the Team was mandated to produce this year. The review is being published under the title Enhancing the Innovative Performance of Firms: Policy Options and Practical Instruments. In view of the ongoing shift towards capacity-building activities, this comparative review emphasizes practical guidance and provides specific templates for creating supportive framework conditions for innovation, establishing innovation-promotion institutions and programmes and strengthening industry-science links.
The meeting of the Team of Specialists on Intellectual Property in July 2008 provided an opportunity for all stakeholders involved in intellectual property related capacity-building (beneficiaries, organizers and donors, from both the public and the private sectors) to exchange their experiences, to discuss what works and what does not, and to identify priorities for future capacity-building activities. Participants reported on national, bilateral, subregional and multilateral programmes, and shared a wide range of training materials. These exchanges provided valuable lessons (both regarding the understanding of the effectiveness of different approaches and the resources available) for the organization of capacity-building activities. Future work will build on the experience gained over the last two years in organizing or collaborating in the preparation of training activities. Strong partnerships with the private sector have facilitated the mobilization of resources and the reach of UNECE’s activities in this area. In addition, the Team has been working on the preparation of a Guidebook on Commercialization Strategies for IP Products, which will serve to support future capacity-building efforts.
The new Team of Specialists on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), by mobilizing the efforts of the existing network of experts, will facilitate the dissemination of best practice through information sharing and the promotion of dialogue between the public and private sectors. An important component of the work in this area will be the training of public and private sector officials through the development of toolkits, training modules, elaboration of national-level capacity-building programmes and other forms of knowledge transfer. In addition, the Team will also be engaged in policy and project advice. In line with this mandate, a Pilot Training Course on PPPs was organized in Moscow in June 2008 in cooperation with the State University – Higher School of Economics. The International Conference “Taking Public-Private Partnerships Forward: New Opportunities for Infrastructure Development in Transition Economies”, held in Moscow in October, provided a forum for the exchange of views and experiences among participants regarding the contribution of PPPs to address infrastructure needs, the strengthening of organizational capacity in this area and ways to ensure appropriate governance. The Conference also served to disseminate and test various components of the toolkit on PPPs that is being prepared as training material.
As part of the activities developed in the focus area of entrepreneurship and development of small and medium-sized enterprises, an applied policy seminar on Early-Stage Financing and Investment Readiness of Innovative Enterprises was organized in Moscow in May. The event was co-organized jointly with the All-Russian Organization of Small and Medium Business and built on the collaboration with the network of experts underpinning UNECE’s activities in the focus area of financing for innovative development. The seminar discussed both demand and supply aspects on the financing of innovative enterprises and provided an opportunity to exchange views and practical advice between practitioners, entrepreneurs and officials with policy responsibilities. Work in this area has resulted in a new publication, Promoting Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development in the UNECE Region, which highlights ways of overcoming existing obstacles to entrepreneurship and enterprise development in the region. The focus is on recent government actions aimed at reducing these barriers and on the identification and dissemination of good practices throughout the region, in particular in emerging market economies. The publication developed and incorporated the conclusions and recommendations to Governments resulting from the International Conference Reducing Barriers to Entrepreneurship and Encouraging Enterprise Development: Policy Options, which took place in Geneva in June 2007.
An International Conference on Investing in Innovation: Promoting New Opportunities in the UNECE Region was organized in April 2008, as part of the activities in the area of financing for innovative development. The Conference gathered together a large group of investors, representatives from financial institutions, academics and policymakers. Various national policy experiences on the mobilization of risk capital were considered while underlining the importance of general framework conditions for the effectiveness of these policy efforts. Participants also discussed various approaches to bridging the financing gap in order to facilitate the commercialization of research and consider how environmental challenges could be addressed through innovation and the related financing aspects. The debates and the materials circulated during the Conference provided inputs for the preparation of a new UNECE publication in this focus area, Policy Options and Instruments for Financing Innovation: A Practical Guide for Early-Stage Financing. It is envisaged that, as in other areas, this publication will serve as an intermediary step in the elaboration of training materials based on the comparative work carried out so far and the contributions of the growing networks of experts.
The inauguration session of the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) Project Working Group on Knowledge-based Development took place in Baku in November 2008. This Group will broaden the previous focus on ICT for development to incorporate other relevant issues for economic competitiveness and innovative development, including financing, entrepreneurships, commercialization and protection of intellectual property rights and PPPs. Additionally, the Group will be a useful subregional forum for the exchange of experiences and best practices in different areas of the subprogramme.
The Information Exchange Platform is an interactive online tool hosted on the UNECE website that is accessible to all members of the Teams of Specialists and expert networks. In 2008, it continued to provide a virtual space for sharing contributions and facilitating interaction.
The challenges ahead
The new programme of work assigns increased importance to capacity-building activities and advisory services in requesting countries and subregions. In order to develop the means to effectively fulfil this mandate, as an intermediate step, the results of normative work carried out during the 2007-2008 period will be translated into capacity-building and training materials and modules. The challenge is to concentrate the resources needed to successfully complete this undertaking. This will require the active contribution of the members of the Teams of Specialists and networks of experts in the preparation of the necessary materials and in the planned capacity-building activities. As previously, continued cooperation with other relevant international organizations will serve to better identify needs and provide effective responses to the demands of member States. Continued cooperation with stakeholders in the private sector, building on the excellent relations developed so far, will be necessary to ensure that the work has access to the relevant expertise and is based on the experiences of practitioners.
Reflecting upon the lessons drawn from past experiences, the work in 2009 and beyond will strive to strengthen the links between the various focus areas, in order to effectively address the connections between the various factors that promote innovation and competitiveness in knowledge-based economies. This approach will contribute to better serving the practical needs of member States and strengthen the contacts between the various networks that have emerged as a result of the activities undertaken so far.
_______