COVID-19 innovation teaches how much diverse groups can achieve when collaborated
The launch of COVID-19 vaccines marks an unprecedented success. These vaccines were possible only through novel innovation – including new public-private partnerships and other global collaborative platforms – that underpinned their development. To learn from the innovation models seen so far means to use them to bolster a greener recovery and address future crises.
Hard-learned lessons of funding early-stage technology
Today, global R&D spending as a whole has reached a record high of almost US$1.7 trillion, with the vast majority of that sum coming from the private sector in the form of short-term investments like product development or digital apps, reports UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Solving broader societal problems typically involves long-term investments in higher-risk emerging technologies, but the private sector rarely takes such risks. Public investments by Governments and non-profit organizations lowers risks for private investors and unlocking much-needed capital from the private sector, notes Corporate Knights.
Most technological advances occur in publicly funded universities and, to an extent, national labs. Historically, it has been notoriously difficult to translate discoveries from the lab to the marketplace – especially in capital-intensive sectors – as the private sector is reluctant to invest in unproven technology.
R&D in Lithuania and Estonia
Now about 10 countries account for 80% of spending. As part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), countries have pledged to substantially increase public and private R&D spending as well as the number of researchers by 2030. Lithuania spends 1 percent of GDP for R&D, which is equivalent to $ 851,350.2k. Business spends $ 252,833.2k on R&D, while government spending is $144.692.1k. The biggests sums for research and development comes from universities, which is more than business and government spend together.
Estonia’s percentage of R&D spending is bigger – it is 1.4 percent of GDP, equivalent to $544,204,7k. The dynamics of spending share differs from Lithuanian: business in Estonia spend for R&D as much as universities do. Government spends $59,750.6k, and there is another active actor in the R&D sector – private non-profit- which has a substancially smaller share, but still spends $6,498.5k. Estonia has 3284 researchers per million inhabitants, which is more than 200 higher rate than Lithuanian.
