Government s Role in Promoting the Use of ICT

Transcription

1 2009/TEL39/LSG/IR/006 Government s Role in Promoting the Use of ICT Submitted by: Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) Industry Round Table - How SMEs Can Leverage on ICT for Growth and Innovation Singapore 14 April 2009

2 APECTEL 39 Industry Round Table How can SME s leverage on ICT for growth and innovation? Government's role in promoting the use of ICT Michael Mudd Director of Public Policy, CompTIA, USA. ICT Development Index Only one in APEC From the ITU ICT Development Index of154 countries ITU 2009

3 I CT Affordability Index much better for APEC A comparison of ICT levels and ICT prices suggests a strong link between the two indices From the ITU ICT Development Index of154 countries ITU 2009 Business is the Primary Innovation Driver; Private vs. Public Sector R&D* R&D Spending % of GDP Sector of Performance (Share of Total) Source of Funding (%) Business Government Higher Education Business Government High Income Countries Developing Countries East Asia & Pacific Europe & Central Asia Latin America East Asia and Pacific (APEC) is well positioned in R&D * Technology Diffusion in the Developing World 2008, IBRD, 2008

4 SME s lead in Innovation The preeminent vehicles for the dissemination and diffusion of technology in a market economy are firms and entrepreneurs. Their success in doing so depends on their ability to undertake and expand new activities. This requires a stable macroeconomic environment, together with a regulatory environment that effectively enforces property rights and the rule of law Other factors relate to labour hiring and not imposing excessive regulatory or financial burdens. From; Technology Diffusion in the Developing World 2008,IBRD,2008 However another major factor is the ability for SME s to access and share information cheaply - and to protect their innovative ideas 730,000 ICT SME s* in the EU (41% are Innovative) Best Performers are estimated between 45,000 and 75,000 (6-10% of the universe) Total Innovative ICT SMEs c.a 300,000 Between % Innovative ICT SMEs 59% Normal ICT SMEs Source: IDC Study on Innovative ICT SMEs in the EU 25 for DG INFSO, 2007 *Defined as >250 employees

5 Adoption of Formal IPR by SMEs in the EU 25* % Copyright 41 5 Trademarks 31 9 Patents 25 7 Registered designs 15 4 Utility models 11 5 N=683 Actu a l Planned * e-business W@tch Survey IPRs in ICT SMEs, August September The New Innovation Process From Prof. Henry Chesbrough, Open Innovation, the New Imperative for Creating Profit from Technology, Haas School, Berkeley, Harvard Business School Press Closed Innovation The smart people in our field work for us To profit from R&D, we must discover it, develop it, and ship it ourselves If we discover it ourselves, we will get it to market first The company that gets an innovation to market first will win If we create the most and best ideas in the industry, we will win We should control our IP, so that our competitors don t t profit from our ideas Open Innovation Not all the smart people work for us. We need to work with smart people inside and outside the company External R&D can create significant value; internal R&D is needed to claim some portion of that value We don t t have to originate the research to profit from it Building a superior business model is better than getting to market first If we make the best use of internal and external ideas, we will win We should profit from others use of our IP, and we should buy others IP whenever it advances our own business model

6 Predicting Technical Change Notoriously difficult! An MIT paper* gives a convincing argument that historically where there are weak patent/ip laws that innovators focus on a smaller set of industries where IP is less important Conversely where IP was stronger, innovation is much more diversified Innovation relies more and more on unlimited high speed low cost communication fixed and mobile without any bandwidth limits for individual users (net neutrality principles) with adequate privacy provisions ( APEC Privacy Framework) So policies that allow innovators to bring services to the market as fast and as hassle free as possible should focus on their technical merit and adoption by citizens will ultimately arbitrate usefulness Thus to be part of both technical change and global trade policy makers need to consider the role of the cost of access to high speed unlimited online ICT *Petra and Moser new & others. MIT 2004 innovation models Structural Impediments to the Growth of ICT use in SME s some recommendations The cost of access to high speed internet - both fixed line and mobile is putting SME s at a disadvantage in 75% of APEC economies release spectrum/license new operators; The lack of programmes that value intellectual capital vs. fixed industrial capital is inhibiting investment capital for technological development (venture capital, SME lending: needs collateral, credible means of risk evaluation); The lack of protection for intellectual property in a large number of APEC economies is inhibiting innovation; - economies should adopt the APEC IPEG APEC Cooperation Initiative on Patent Acquisition Procedures without delay; National (Industrial?) policies that prematurely (and often wrongly) try to pick winners and losers in technology; - Businesses will take the risk and reward; Regulations or mandated standards for government agencies and private sector companies always to choose one technology over others, thus inhibiting innovation;_ innovations in ICT s simply moves too fast to doe this with any success; Lack of a skilled workforce that meets the needs of Technology;" The capacity of firms or individuals to use a new technology depends critically on the basic technological literacy of workers and consumers. * ; - invest in people now! *Technology Diffusion in the Developing World 2008, IBRD, 2008, p. 153.

7 Thank You For further information and a copy of our white papers on technology policy please contact Michael Mudd Director, Public Policy, Asia - Pacific CompTIA 3208 Central Plaza 18 Harbour Road, Hong Kong SAR, China mmudd@comptia.org