Multi-year Expert Meeting on Investment, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Productive Capacity-building and Sustainable Development, fourth session

The meeting will discuss policy perspectives of the issues under discussion in the Multi-Year Expert Group on Investment, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Productive Capacity-Building and Sustainable Development.

The meeting will take stock of developments in bilateral, regional, and multilateral investment policy, with a specific focus on the reform efforts related to the regime of international investment agreements.

Further, the meeting will consider several lessons on science, technology and innovation policy identified by UNCTAD, particularly in the context of its policy advice and capacity-building work, and it will provide an update on entrepreneurship policies and their relation to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

This will enable a discussion on the UNCTAD Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development, the Entrepreneurship Policy Framework and the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Framework.

The meeting will also serve as a preparatory step towards UNCTAD intergovernmental activities in 2016, in particular those of the Investment, Enterprise and Development Commission.

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Investment, innovation and entrepreneurship and productive capacity-building for sustainable development

The topic for the fourth session of the Multi-year Expert Meeting on Investment, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Productive Capacity-building and Sustainable Development was decided at the fifty-sixth executive session of the Trade and Development Board, in 2012, as follows: “The fourth session of the expert meeting will bring together the findings of the three preceding meetings, with a view towards refining UNCTAD’s Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development, the Entrepreneurship Policy Framework and the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Framework.”

This last session is thus intended to summarize the work of the multi-year expert meeting from the policy perspective, bringing to a close the cycle of work undertaken on the subject matter. The timing of the fourth session suggests that it will also serve as a preparatory step towards the fourteenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XIV), in particular the deliberations under sub-theme 2 of promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth through trade, investment, finance and technology to achieve prosperity for all.

Investment is essential to build productive capacities and ensure sustainable development. New generations of investment policies have emerged that place inclusive growth and sustainable development at the heart of efforts to attract and benefit from investment. This prompted UNCTAD to update its Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development. Following guidance from member States, specific attention is being given to how to address investment policy challenges at the regional and international levels. In particular, and in light of the pressing need for systematic reform of the global regime of international investment agreements, it is necessary to take stock of efforts and bring that reform in line with today’s sustainable development imperative.

Science, technology and innovation (STI) are central to the process of building productive capacity, increasing productivity, promoting competitive firms and industries, and drawing level economically. The links between STI policy and sustainable development are thus myriad. This is recognized in the mainstreaming of STI into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development focused on the Sustainable Development Goals. The inputs from member States experts emphasized the need for policy-focused technical cooperation on STI. In particular, consideration of the conceptual framework underlying the UNCTAD STI policy review programme provided a number of elements that should enable improved relevance of such policy frameworks for future activities in support of STI policy in developing countries, particularly with regard to their response to challenges posed by fast technological change.

Entrepreneurship is likewise key for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals. However, to achieve impact on building productive capacities, strengthening microenterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises, addressing challenges of sustainable and inclusive growth, improving life conditions particularly of vulnerable groups of the population, such as youth and women, concerted efforts are needed to ensure a comprehensive and holistic approach to entrepreneurship promotion. That approach should be based on long-term strategies and policies, adequate resource allocation, capacity-building programmes, efficient assessment and monitoring mechanisms, coordination and cooperation at all levels, and sharing of good practices and lessons learned. In response to that challenge, UNCTAD developed the Entrepreneurship Policy Framework, which advocates a comprehensive, coherent and coordinated approach to assist policymakers in identifying, formulating and implementing policy measures on entrepreneurship and the promotion of microenterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises.

Experts will be requested to elaborate on, and add to, these key issue areas identified by the secretariat. Experts are asked to share experiences with regard to the implementation of the three policy frameworks, as well as to shed light on other areas of concern and future consideration in this regard.

To facilitate the discussions, the UNCTAD secretariat has prepared a background document entitled “Investment, innovation and entrepreneurship for productive capacity-building and sustainable development”.