Innovation and the Three Detours for Economic Growth beyond the Middle-Income Stage
This chapter begins by acknowledging the differences in the economic growth mechanisms employed by advanced economies and latecomer economies at middle- or lower-income stages and by highlighting a very “narrow passage” between these countries. The chapter explains the nature of the narrow passage in terms of three detours. The first detour is promoting imitative innovations in the form of petit patents and trademarks instead of trying to promote a high level of IPR protection, including patent rights. The second detour is first promoting domestic value-added and reducing a country’s reliance on GVCs before an economy is fully coupled with GVCs. The third detour is specializing in short-cycle technology-based sectors instead of trying to directly enter long-cycle technology-based sectors/segments. While the consolidation of technological capabilities has long been suggested as a vital requirement for economic catch-up, this chapter shows that such consolidation must be carefully designed and implemented.