Reconceptualising responsible research and innovation from a Global South perspective

Figures & data

Table 1. Contextual indicators of the case studies (extracted from GoSpin database, UNESCO).

	Item	Malawi	Brazil	Netherlands
Input indicators	R&D personnel per million inhabitants	257.9	2,367.7	11,206.8
	Global expenditure on R&D (percentage of GDP)	No data	1.17%	2.00%
Output indicators	Publications in Scimago per million inhabitants	18.4	1,934.7	1,443.4
	Patent grants per million inhabitants	1.14	34.60	135.30
	High technology exports (% of total manufacturing exports)	2.2%	13.5%	17.8%
	Global Innovation Index	23.5	33.1	63.4
Education indicators	Government expenditure on education (% GDP)	4.8%	6%	5.5%
	Enrolment in tertiary education	No data	6.277	20.378
Socio-demographic indicators	GDP per capita (USD)	300.3	8,650	45,637.9
	Gini Index (inequality), World Bank estimate	54.0	51.3	29.3
	Government effectiveness (rank)	50	51	98
	Control of corruption (rank)	47	57	97
	Global Gender Gap Economic Participation and Opportunity Subindex (score)	0.80	0.64	0.66

Table 2. Case study interviews.

	Brazil	The Netherlands	Malawi
Research	2	1	1
Industry	1	2	3
NGO	3	1	1
Government	1

Figure 1. Method summary.

Table 3. Potential differentiating dimensions for innovation in the Global South.

Contextual dimension of Responsible Innovation	Features associated with Global North	Features associated with Global South
Main drivers	Capital	Livelihood/subsistence-driven
Primary locus of innovation	Multi-national corporations / higher education institutes	Community / social innovation
Top-down vs. bottom-up policy	Typically top-down frameworks	Greater emphasis on bottom-up initiatives
Public vs. private enterprise	Public funding often important at early-stage innovation	Less visible role for public funding
Rural vs. non-rural orientation	Less emphasis on rural	More emphasis on Rural
Responsible innovation-related practices	Emphasis on formal engagement and deliberative practices	Less formal
Focal aspects for responsible innovation	May be well defined e.g. EU RRI keys, US STI agenda	Country-dependent
Knowledge generation	Typically science oriented, top down and formal	More visible role for indigenous and other forms of knowledge
Types of organisation	Private organisations and higher education institutions	Increased emphasis on social enterprise, community organisation and SMEs
Decision-makers vs Civil Society Organisations/NGOs push	Decision-makers	Civil Society Organisations/NGOs
Policy Drivers	Government policy	Government policy vacuum (however may be driven by political interest when appropriate)

Figure 2. Contextualisation of global North-South differences in innovation emphasis.