For Immediate News Release
Hangzhou, China, May 11, 2009:
Venue: School of Management Building, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to support innovations for inclusive growth in China and India
Hangzhou, China, May 11, 2009: Zhejiang University today was witness to a unique China-India collaboration. In a project launch event today (11th May 2009) at Hangzhou, Mr. Jiaxi WU, Director, Small and Medium Enterprises Bureau of Zhejiang Provincial Government, Madam Yuzhui WANG Vice-President, Zhejian University and Dr. Stephen McGurk, Regional Director for South Asia and China of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Canada, acknowledged the importance for China and India to address their rural development concerns and share their knowledge and scholarship. Towards this end, Chinese and Indian scholars initiated a research project endorsing some of the crucial development concerns expressed by both the Chinese and Indian Governments.
The unprecedented economic growth enjoyed by China and India for over a decade has provided numerous opportunities and benefits to these countries. But this growth has left out a large proportion of rural people who are unable to access or benefit from these opportunities. At a time of extraordinary growth of these two emerging economies, the leaders and planners of these two countries are trying to find ways and means to contain the growing rural-urban inequality and ensure ‘inclusive’ growth.
This project, approved formally by the two Governments, seeks to address some of the concerns over the impediments in the way of achieving inclusive growth. How can innovation help these two giant economies achieve inclusive growth? How is the design and application of knowledge for inclusive growth different from the use of technology for economic growth? What are the ways in which scientific and technological knowledge and market and human resource development ensure that all sections of the population and all regions in these countries participate in and share the benefits of economic development? Given that significant shares of the Chinese and Indian populations depend on agricultural-and-rural industries-based livelihoods, what are the innovations in these sub-sectors that are important for inclusive growth? Designed as a research and learning project, this endeavour is expected to enable pro-active learning among several development organizations, research, policy making and market agencies in China and India.
This collaborative project sponsored by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Canada), on “Innovation Systems for Inclusive Development: Lessons from Rural China and India” is being co-ordinated by the National Institute for Innovation Management (NIIM), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, and the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi. Besides scholars from these two centres, those who will be involved in the project are from India’s Centre for Development Studies (Thiruvananthapuram), University of Hyderabad (Hyderabad) and Gujarat Institute of Development Research (Ahmedabad) and China’s Institute of Policy and Management (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development (Zhejiang University, Hangzhou) and the Centre for Chinese Agricultural Policy (Beijing).
For more information:
Veena Ravichandran, Ph.D
Senior Program Officer
Innovation, Policy and Science (IPS)
International Development Research Centre
Ottawa, Canada
Mobile: 1 613 261 0133
Email: [email protected]
Prabha Sethuraman
Communications Officer
IDRC-South Asia and China
208 Jor Bagh, New Delhi 110 003
Phone: 91-11-2461 9411 ext. 7412
Mobile: 98734 55466
Email: [email protected]
Meet us at: http://www.idrc.ca
IDRC is a Canadian Crown Public Corporation created by the government of Canada in 1970 to help developing countries use science and technology to find practical, long-term solutions to the social, economic and environmental problems they face. Support is directed towards developing an indigenous research capacity to sustain policies and technologies that developing countries need to build healthier, more equitable and more prosperous societies
