Indonesia: Qualitative Study on Innovation in Manufacturing Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs): Exploration of Policy and Research Issues

Abstract

The promotion of innovation in Low Income Countries (LICs) has recently appeared on the agenda of policymakers and international development agencies. Many agree that innovation is crucial in these countries, because it is fundamental for growth in order to catch up with middle and high income economies (Chaminade et al., 2010). Current research, theory development and policy formulation to promote innovation, however, have mainly focused on innovation in the more advanced economies, whilst investigation of these issues in low income countries to date has been limited. The 5-year research project ‘Enabling Productivity and Innovation in Low Income Countries (EIP-LIC),’ funded by the British Department for International Development (DFID) and commissioned to Tilburg University, aims to fill research gaps on innovation in LICs from an economic perspective. EIP-LIC aims to deliver robust high quality evidence from Africa and Asia on how to increase innovation and raise productivity in manufacturing SMEs, through a coordinated set of thematic and country case studies providing internationally comparable data. The countries of study include Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda, Indonesia, Indonesia, India and Bangladesh