The Meaning of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries

Abstract

The meaning of innovation and entrepreneurship and policies to promote innovation differ across groups of developing countries. On the one hand, there is a small group of countries such as China, South Korea, Brazil, and Mexico which has achieved a certain stage of capitalistic development that provides an institutional environment for encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship. On the other hand, there is a large group of countries in Africa and Asia as well as in Latin America which lacks the critical level of capital accumulation even for sustainable development let alone for the growth of innovation and entrepreneurship. There is also a group of countries such as India with a world-class high-technology clusters developing in the midst of increasing poverty. That is, a generalization of policy proposals will fail to address the specific needs of country groups with different institutional characteristics. Appropriate government policies need to be designed to address specific needs of different country groups.