| Notes |
A very eloquent example on how can we turn innovation into a development tool is the "One Laptop per Child" project. In this initiative experts from both academia and industry designed a flexible, ultra low-cost and durable lap-top, for the world's poorest children. This $100 portable computer, created at the MIT Media Lab and presented by the Lab co-founder, Nicholas Negroponte, at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2005, will allow many communities in developing countries to leapfrog decades of development.
One indispensable ingredient for innovation to sprout in developing countries is talent. In other words, quality education. The importance of intangible assets has sky-rocketed in the last years: from 20% of the value of firms in the S&P 500 in 1980 to 70% nowadays. In the OECD we are aware that we have to strengthen our work with developing economies in the field of education, to help them expand their possibilities to generate innovation and profit from globalisation. http://www.oecd.org/economy/outlook/growthinnovationandequitytheglobalpolicychallenge.htm |