The world has, over the last two decades, been hit by a series of crises, ranging from financial to political crises. The Great Recession of 2008 has had huge and long-lasting impacts on the economies of both the developed and developing countries. Political crises ensued, as a result of these crises, as evidenced by the recent political polarisation, and democracy regression around the globe. The recent pandemic has unmasked the extent of the inequality, poverty, and social exclusion among populations around the world. These crises also happen within the existing 'grand climate and sustainability challenges.
It is against this background that the theme of the Conference on Public Innovation, Development and Sustainability is centred on innovation and how it can respond to the recent crises. Concepts such as innovation for development, information and communication technology (CT) for development, digital economies, and "artificial intelligence" (Al) are being increasingly used in academic and policy discourses. The idea of innovation for development (140) has now been entrenched within countries and international development organisations.
In trying to tackle the grand societal challenges through innovation, some scholars and policymakers have recently called for mission-oriented innovation. Previously, innovation debates were centred on Research and Development (R&D), mainly to enhance the productivity of firms (Hekkert et al, 2020). The aim of the state in driving the innovation agenda, was to strengthen national systems of innovation for national economic growth (Schat and Steinmueller, 2018). However, missions-oriented innovation centres the nation of public value in its design and aim to create a pathway to different ways of working across the public sector and creating better public value for citizens (OECD, 2022) Conceptualising innovation and development through a "missions lens has several advantages and offers a range of opportunities. First, the proposed policy solutions (for example, SDGs) to grand challenges require cross-sectoral and multiple-actors collaboration. Second, mission-oriented innovation calls for the transformation of the state and the public sector, and the re-orientation of the state to shape innovation for public value.
Event description is based directly on the source.
Conference on Public Innovation, Development, and Sustainability
Main Organiser
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Conference Partners
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
South African Local Government Association
Human Sciences Research Council
Department of Science and Innovation
Municipal Innovation Maturity Index
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