BBL: Harnessing Quality for Global Competitiveness

Export Competitiveness Thematic Group BBL

Chair: Bernard Hoekman, PRMTR

Speaker: Jean-Louis Racine, Private Sector Development Specialist, ECSPF

Discussants:  

• Karl-Christian Göthner and Clemens Sanetra, experts affiliated with PTB, The German National Metrology Institute  

Description: This BBL familiarizes Bank staff with the concept of the National Quality Infrastructure (the system of public and private institutions involved in standardization, certification, testing, inspection, metrology and accreditation in an economy), its role in economic development, and the supportive role of the public sector.  The session draws from an upcoming regional flagship report "Harnessing Quality for Global Competitiveness" which takes stock of the state of the national quality infrastructure in the ECA region and opportunities for reforming and strengthening its institutional framework to facilitate trade, enable industrial upgrading and protect society from harmful goods and services.  As integration in global value chains increasingly relies on meeting international standards, this topic is more than ever relevant to low and middle income countries.

Speakers' bios

Jean-Louis Racine is an innovation specialist in the Europe and Central Asia Region for the World Bank. At the World Bank, his work focuses on policies and programs to support industrial upgrading, technology diffusion, and innovation. Prior to his current position, he worked in a private consulting practice where he advised regional governments and businesses on technology-based competitiveness strategies. He draws from a combined background in engineering and policy, with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, an MIA in Technology Policy for Economic Development from Columbia University, and an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.

• Presentation (pdf - 1.3mb)

Clemens Sanetra is a consultant on the different components of national quality infrastructure systems, with a main focus on metrology. He works in technical cooperation projects all over the world, mainly in Asia and Latin America. He has a PhD from the Institute for Fatigue Analysis and Plant Engineering at the Technical University of Clausthal, Germany, and professional experience in various areas, including material testing, environmental management, metrology in chemistry, and quality assurance in value chains.

Karl-Christian Göthner is a freelance consultant in the field of micro, small and medium enterprise promotion, regional/local economic development and development of the quality infrastructure in different countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, and in Eastern Europe, under contracts from PTB, GTZ, InWEnt, the World Bank, and the Inter American Development Bank. He studied Economic and Latin American Studies at the University of Rostock (Germany), and defended his doctoral thesis in 1974 and his habilitation thesis in 1983, both about economic challenges in Brazil. Between 1973 and 1991, when he began his current position,  he worked at the Institute of Latin American Studies of the same University, most recently as professor and head of the economics department of the Institute.