Policy Briefs & Reports

The South Asia Rural Innovation Capacity Benchmarking Workshop was organised by the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and the Centre for Research on Innovation and Science Policy (CRISP) together with the LINK initiative (Learning, Innovation, Knowledge) and held in New Delhi on August 19-20, 2009. The event was sponsored by Canada’s International Developmental Research Center (IDRC) and UNU-MERIT. The workshop brought together senior officials within S&T organisations in the region engaged in science, technology and innovation planning, and academics/ researchers/ practitioners involved in rural innovation in South Asian countries as well as Peru and the UK.

This workshop was designed as a policy dialogue — with S&T policymakers and rural development practitioners — on the implications for capacity benchmarking if South Asian countries wanted to move from science and technology policy to a broader innovation policy with the specific goals of rural development. The goal was to identify approaches and priorities relevant to undertaking rural innovation benchmarking exercises.

This report presents the converging views of the workshop participants and puts forward the concerns raised and suggestions made during the ensuing policy dialogue.