Promoting Innovation Systems at the Community Level

The First Innovation Systems at the Community Level Workshop was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 6 - 8 February 2006. The workshop was hosted by SIRIM-Berhad under the auspices of the World Bank and the Global Research Alliance supported by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malaysia and the Swiss Development Cooperation. Fifty delegates from 15 countries, representing scientific institutions, practitioners, governmental and non-governmental agencies and multilateral institutions, participated in the facilitated workshop.

The workshop participants agreed to pursue the following actions to further promote innovation at the community level:

Â	Prepare a paper for submission through Dato’ Lee Yee-Cheong to Prof Jeffrey Sachs, Chairman of the UN Millennium Project, on project ideas to be undertaken by the science, technology and innovation community to assist in meeting the MDGs. (GRA to lead this project)
Â	Undertake a Case Study on innovation systems at community level in the brassware handicraft sector in Malaysia with parallel studies in for example South Africa and India which will lead to the development of common methodologies for fostering community based innovation. (SIRIM to lead on this project);
	Identify, document and promote community innovations through three initiatives – Idea to Market – institutionally driven (SIRIM); Village 2020 – community owned (SIRIM through MOSTI); twin project Village 2020 replicated in another country (GRA);
	Capture, analyse and share the underlying logic of community innovation success stories around the world and discovering underlying logic such that they can be applied in situations elsewhere. (SIRIM to lead this initiative); Â
	Review of existing innovation support funds and outline of a global mechanism to foster community level innovations (World Bank to lead this initiative);
	Promote south-south cooperation with partner countries and institutions to share knowledge and expertise and identify projects for collaborative partnerships, example TRAMIL like the program for medicinal plants. (TRAMIL/SIRIM to lead initiative);
Â	Review and propose amendments to mandate of existing institutions to enable community based innovation. (MOSTI to lead with input from Prolinnova).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information on the workshop and its outcome, please consult the following documents:

	Report of 1st Innovation Systems at Community Level Workshop 6 - 8 February, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia (pdf)
Â	Science, Technology and Innovation and the Millennium Development Goals - Dato’ Ir Yee-Cheong Lee (ppt)
	From Sink to Source: Poor as Provider of Innovations, Knowledge and Institutional Values - Dr. Anil Gupta (ppt)
	Perspectives from the World Bank: Innovation for Development - Mr. Nicolas Gorjestani (ppt)
	Kuala Lumpur Resolution
Â	Supporting Local Innovation for Rural Development: Analysis and Review of Five Innovation Support Funds (pdf) (Report prepared in response to point 5 of the Kuala Lumpur resolution. Source: The Danish Institute for International Studies)