ASLI Working Paper Series

Publication Title Cleantech Innovation by Developing Countries
Publisher Asian Law Institute
Series WPS044
Publication Date Oct 2020
Author/Speaker Joy Y. Xiang
Cleantech (technology capable of mitigating or adapting to climate change) is critical for a country to address climate change and build sustainable development effectively. Since the 1970s, the global community has been emphasizing the voluntary transfer of cleantech from developed countries to developing countries, since the former owns the majority of the existing cleantech and the latter needs cleantech. This emphasis has produced limited results. Realizing both global cleantech development and deployment (including international cleantech transfer) are important, this article proposes we emphasize global cleantech development and deployment instead.

This article proposes a pathway for developing countries, especially the least developed countries, to attract foreign cleantech and develop domestic cleantech. The pathway includes three phases: International aid, international cleantech cooperation, and domestic cleantech innovation. This article suggests the global community supports developing countries in establishing their own cleantech innovation systems. Such purposeful support may come in forms of international aid and mutually beneficial international cleantech cooperation. International aid is to help, e.g., the least developed countries, to build domestic capacities for cleantech innovation and cleantech importation. Mutually beneficial international cleantech cooperation is to help developing countries that have acquired such capacities to move further along toward domestic cleantech innovation. For domestic cleantech innovation, this article suggests that, in principle, a developing country should send clear policy signals to its private sector to indicate the government’s long- term commitment to cleantech innovation. This article further suggests that the developing country should leverage diverse innovation tools, including customized intellectual property right (IPR) regimes and non-IPR tools such as prizes and innovation commons.
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