Building Innovation Systems for Climate Change Technology Transfer: Perspectives from East Africa

Briefing

Climate Resilient Economies Programme Policy Brief 006/2016
African Centre for Technology Studies / STEPS Global Consortium

Innovation systems are critical to technology transfer and implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Innovation systems provide an important platform for conceiving and incubating climate technologies. In East Africa, various stakeholders have different views of what constitute a good innovation system. These views are informed by country experiences and context in relation to social, technological and institutional innovation systems. The diverse experiences, lessons and contexts from the East African countries can potentially inform a rich and evidence-driven platform for a regionally integrated innovation system for the EAC which could in turn be informative to national systems. However, such opportunities could be enhanced through strengthening institutional structures that allow for cross-sectoral, cross-country and multi-level knowledge and experience interchanges.