Pardee Research Report, November 2012

Creating an Innovation Ecosystem: Governance and the Growth of Knowledge Economies

By Azathui Arikyan and Muhamad H. Zaman
October 2012 (17 pages)
ISBN: 978-1-936727-07-0
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This report is the product of work by Azatuhi Ayrikyan and Pardee Faculty Fellow Muhammad H. Zaman, with support from the Pardee Center, looking at the role of governance in the creation of knowledge-based economies.  By reviewing available information from national governments and international governance and financial organizations (i.e., various United Nations programs, the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation, the World Bank), Ayrikyan and Zaman have found connections between governance practices and a nation’s ability to develop and sustain the growth of a knowledge economy.  The report includes several graphics illustrating the comparative measures used that support their findings, and it suggests that this work provides useful insights for policymakers and others interested in the economic development trajectories of developing countries.

Azatuhi Ayrikyan is a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science and Engineering at Boston University, where she is developing technologies for global health in the Laboratory for Engineering Education and Development. Ayrikyan also serves as a consultant on intellectual property to the World Health Organization on local production of medical products in developing countries. She is a commercialization analyst for Foresight Science and Technology, a pioneering technology transfer consulting firm whose mission is to help bring early stage technologies to market. She has extensive experience in technology development in emerging markets through her work as an intellectual property consultant for technology start-ups in Armenia. Ayrikyan served as a technology development analyst for Boston University, where she developed a program for global dissemination of university inventions. In addition to her academic training, she has a long-standing interest and involvement in human rights advocacy, having served as a national coordinator for several campaigns run by Amnesty International USA.

Muhammad H. Zaman is Director of the Laboratory for Engineering Education and Development, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Innovative Engineering Education Faculty Fellow at Boston University. He also holds appointments in the Department of Medicine and the Department of International Health at Boston University School of Medicine, and is a Pardee Center Faculty Fellow. Zaman currently serves as a technical member of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and is a co-Director of the UNECA Biomedical Engineering Initiative. Zaman is involved in developing robust and and affordable diagnostic technologies for the developing world and is working on capacity building and engineering education in these countries as well. At BU, his research team develops robust, cheap, and terrain-ready medical devices and diagnostics that have already begun to be implemented throughout sub-Saharan Africa.