TIPC is pleased to announce that the full five-year TIPC programme kicks off this week. The core transformative programme, new website and blogs are now live. In honour of Sustainable Development Goal 17, Partnership for the Goals, TIPC officially commences its global strategic partnership on transformative innovation this week from 17 May 2018. The TIPC central aim is to build an international network dedicated to transformative change as embodied in the SDGs.
SDG 17 emphasises the importance of strong international partnerships, like TIPC, to reach the goalsThe ground-breaking programme of transformative work, that places front and centre a new kind of thinking on science, technology and innovation (STI) to help reach the aims embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), starts across a network of members and associates. Coordinated from the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex, TIPC interlinks researchers, innovation agencies and policymakers from the Global North and Global South. They are united in their commitment to work together to change how STI interacts with the UN’s Agenda 2030 to support delivery of the SDGs.
Having completed a successful pilot year, the five-year programme is focused on shaping science, technology and innovation strategies and systems that do not neglect, side-line or trade-off social and environmental consequences. Current approaches to STI policy, connected with industrial modernity, globalisation and economic growth as measures of progress, have delivered advancement for some while leaving the stark scar of inequality and environmental degradation across the planet and many of its people.
TIPC’s work shifts away from well-trodden paths, to new directions that revitalise and experiment with fresh assumptions and ideas. The members will work together to co-create a new understanding along with tools and techniques to develop Transformative Innovation Policy. The four strands of the core programme are: experimentation, evaluation and metrics, capacity building and training, and academic research. TIPC is not ‘business-as-usual’ or ‘science-as-usual’ or ‘development-as-usual’. It is business, policymaking, partnerships, directions and outcomes that are anything but the usual.
The consortium currently comprises members from South Africa (NRF and DST), Colombia (Colciencias), Sweden (Vinnova), Finland (Business Finland), Mexico (CONACYT) and University of Sussex (SPRU). There are associated projects in China, Norway, Brazil and Panama. Further countries are expected to join the group later in 2018. By interlinking the aims, knowledge and findings on STI in achieving the SDGs in various countries, the network of policymakers, researchers and practitioners working on transformative innovation strengthens and grows to enable and activate more rapid, fundamental change.
The rationale is that the TIPC core programme is co-created and participatory. The core elements interplay with specific projects (bilaterals) in each member and associate country. The nucleus of work on transformative innovation and change at the centre, informs the country-context initiatives. In turn, these bilateral projects then feedback into the shared knowledge and experience at the centre. By interlinking the aims, knowledge and findings on STI in achieving the SDGs in various countries, the transformative movement strengthens and grows to enable and activate more rapid, fundamental change.
Reflecting on their participation in TIPC, Imraan Patel, Deputy Director-General, Department of Science and Technology in South Africa said: “We in the final stages of refreshing the high-level policy framework that will guide investments and support for science, technology and innovation in South Africa. The refreshed White Paper is grounded on the need to rapidly accelerate inclusion and transformation in a rapidly changing world. This requires new thinking and policy experimentation. We look forward to shaping new thinking and analytical frameworks with national and international research and policy partners.”
Senior Director Heli Karjalainen of the Strategic Service Unit of Business Finland believes: “Participation in TIPC opens up unique opportunities for Business Finland to work out new solutions to arising business-related and societal challenges. We are especially looking for increasing our understanding on market disruptions, ecosystem building and paths towards a more sustainable economy. Collaboration with leading experts in the field from various countries will help to keep our innovative spirit high at Business Finland.”
SPRU Director, Johan Schot said: “Transformative Innovation Policy (TIP) is a radical, new step in the evolution of innovation policy. It means redirecting innovation towards transforming our world and delivering on the SDGs. I am delighted that following our successful pilot year, TIPC has now kicked off an exciting and promising core programme that interacts with our excellent range of members projects. SPRU is dedicated to the TIPC adventure to connect with our partners and to experiment with new approaches in a wide range of contexts. We look forward to reporting the outcomes and impact of this transformative agenda.”
TIPC Programme Director, Sarah Schepers said: “The strength of TIPC lies in the willingness of the members to experiment and work together to co-create and develop Transformative Innovation Policy. It is a truly international group of pioneers from the Global North and South. The potential for learning between countries over the next five years is immense.”
The start of the transformative programme has an accompanying website with the release of four new blog series. The first examines a central TIPC strand of work, looking at the concept of ‘policy experimentation’ and what this means through a transformative lens. Others explore and debate Transformative Innovation Policy (TIP) in relation to key themes within the concept of global progress – the United Nations’ Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, the World Economic Forum’s so-called 4th Industrial Revolution; the assumptions behind industrial strategies aimed at growing economies. Each is put through a TIP filter to question and consider the ideas that inform ‘business-as-usual’ approaches to flip and transform the thinking and central premise. Each quarter a new Digital Digest will be released featuring a new edition in each of the blog series. To keep in touch sign-up and follow TIPC on twitter at @TIPConsortium #InnovationForTransformation #STIforSDGs #KickOff
