Toward

1. PROJECT INTRODUCTION
Towards Innovative, Liveable and Prosperous
Asian Mega-Cities
Apiwat Ratanawaraha
Bangkok, Thailand
August
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2. Background
Current perspectives on innovation as studied and
practiced in Southeast Asia are not sufficient
– Imported models of national innovation systems from the
rich West where contexts and conditions are different
• Existing S&T agencies set up the standard Triple-Helix structures
– Focus on industrial and business innovations, not addressing
current developmental problems
• Enterprise development and little on human development
• Development of NIS has little to do with infrastructure and urban
development
– Focus on the supply side, but not much on how they are
demanded and consumed
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3. Cities continue to be the centers of developmental
problems that need innovative solutions
– Megacities continue to become bigger even with changing
demographic changes
• ageing, smaller household sizes
– But urban planning and development practices still rely on
the comprehensive/master plan model
• Focus on existing problems, little on the future
• Little discussion on risks, future scenarios
– Tend to ignore production structure and technological and
innovation dimensions

4. Project goals
• Future innovation policies
– more comprehensive and inclusive, paying
attention to developmental challenges that affect
the urban quality of life, particularly for the poor
• Future urban policies
– integrate the dynamism of city innovation systems
into the urban planning processes
Integration of Future + Urban + Innovation
Studies and Policies
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5. Specific objectives
• Conduct a comparative analysis of the innovation systems and
capacities in six Southeast Asian countries and megacities
• Develop a framework for integrating innovation and urban
development policies
• Propose policy options and guidelines that will enhance
innovativeness for urban liveability and prosperity
• Establish a network of researchers, policymakers and other
stakeholders in innovation and urban development
• Facilitate sharing of information, knowledge, and learning
among project partners and another IDRC project on ‘Healthy
Places, Prosperous People (Jakarta Focus City)
• Build the research capacities of the project members and
young researchers on city innovations
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6. Methodology
-phase research process
Disentangle ASEAN innovation systems
- National and sectoral innovation systems in countries
Define city innovations and their systems
- Case studies of city innovations in Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh
City, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Singapore
Design future city innovation systems
- Foresight and scenario building
- Innovations that address future city scenarios
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7. Phase
How do we do our research?
• Questions for building conceptual framework
– What is a city innovation?
– What is a city innovation system?
• What makes it different from national/soctoral
systems?
• What are the elements in the system?

8. Definition of a city innovation
– People have to be at the center of city innovation
– Commercial innovations as well as social
innovations
– Focus on innovations that address urban
challenges
– Individual and community of innovators, not just
formal organizations

9. In analyzing city innovation systems, we
focus on …
Key actors/agencies
Interactions and linkages among actors
Systemic learning
Policies and implementation procedures
Plus what we already know about the six
dimensions of innovation

10. Six dimensions of city innovations
Paradigm Position
Process Institution
City
Product Service
Innovation

11. In addition, we propose…
Human-space ecology as a way to analyze city
innovation systems
– Cognitive space
– Information space
– Physical space

12. a CITY INNOVATION
“A new or improved solution that contributes towards
enhanced liveability, prosperity, and equity of the
city.”
a CITY INNOVATION SYSTEM
“The human-space ecology that promotes the
creation, adoption, and diffusion of city innovations”

13. Criteria
• Novelty: A solution that is relatively new to the megacity in
question
• Impacts: A solution that has already had noticeable impacts
on prosperity and liveability in your megacity OR exhibits
potential to effect substantial changes to prosperity and
liveability
• Equity: A solution that does not worsen the income
distribution and social inequality in the megacity A city
innovation should reach a broader base in the urban
population, rather than benefitting only the rich
• Environmental sustainability: A solution that is aligned with
the principle of environmental sustainability

14. • Economic and financial feasibility: A solution that is economically
and financially feasible As we think ahead about how to diffuse a
city innovation from one megacity to another and/or to replicate it
on a mass scale, the costs of creating, adopting, and diffusing an
innovation becomes critical
• Transferability: A solution that is socially, culturally, or
geographically neutral is more likely to diffuse quickly and widely
However, successful implementation of an innovative idea may rely
heavily on social and cultural contexts
• Political acceptability: Any solution that is to be adoption in a mass
scale need political acceptance, which means people whose lives
are affected participate directly in the decision-making process

15. . Analysis of city innovations
• Case studies of innovative solutions
– Choose industries/fields of innovations that create value
for liveablity and prosperity
• Find cases of city innovations
– Data collection: ask experts, documentary research, etc
• Analyze them using the city innovation-system framework
– Creation, adoption, and diffusion
– What value does the city innovation create?
• Liveability , prosperity, equity, security, etc

16. Meso-level analysis
• Are there investment policies at the city level
that support innovation systems?
– knowledge creation, creativity, innovativeness
– Infrastructure and urban development
• Financial intermediaries that support city
innovations
– How are city innovations supported financially?

17. Items for case analysis
• Goal achievement
– Prosperity, equity, liveability
• Dimensions of innovation
– Product, process, position, paradigm, service,
institution
• Innovators
– individual and communities of innovators
• Human-space ecology of the innovation

18. . Analysis of a city innovation system
• Use the below framework to analyze city innovation
systems:
• key actors/agencies
• Interactions and linkages among actors
• Systemic learning
• policies and implementation procedures

19. • Investment policies
– particularly those on urban infrastructure for knowledge
creation, adoption & diffusion
• Institutional arrangements
– that links innovation policies w/ other development
policies
• Policy implementation processes
– that integrate innovation and urban policies at the
national and local levels

20. Micro-level analysis
• Innovators
– Who are they? What do they do?
• Individual, community, and institutional
– Are they the original owners of ideas? Or the ones who
implement and diffuse them?
• City innovations need leadership
• Which actors are crucial to determining policy directions
and implementation? How so?

21. Case Studies
Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam
Maisone e Redevelop- Medical Medical Creative Innova on
housing ment of KL Tourism tourism industries in housing
project City Centre for the low
UP-Ayala Creative City income
Informa on Low-cost Technology precincts and Innovation of
-sharing Housing Park art policies Public Arts Innova on
practice in Community in Solid
government Gawad Art-led Waste
Innovation Kalinga Community Collection
Waste Initiative in housing Project Revitalization Service
Bank” project City
Governance
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22. Workshop program
Day : Presentations of city case studies
Day : Foresight and scenario building
Discussion on city innovation systems
Day : Resource mobilization
Other project management issues
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