The project’s intended audience covers a range of stakeholders including entrepreneurs, technologists, technology managers, industry, NGOs, donors, government and policy makers that have varying degrees of expertise and knowledge on the concepts of climate technology innovation and innovation centers. The report must therefore be accessible to a varied audience in both developed and developing countries and provide concrete and practical insights to inform policy makers in developing countries.

Background: Innovation Centers

Centers of excellence, centers of expertise, technology incubators, innovation centers, technology advisory centers, technology development and diffusion centers, proof-of-concept centers, technology seed funds, and other similar entities and various associated networks have been established or have been proposed as a key tool to support research and development, demonstration, deployment, diffusion and transfer of technologies for adaptation and mitigation of climate change while also providing important social and economic growth opportunities.

There are many different models for these centers and existing centers function at different scales from the local and sub-national to the national, regional and international levels. They also have different functions regarding the innovation cycle. Some are focused exclusively on research and development of new technologies, others focus on the adaptation of technologies to local circumstances, some promote technology deployment and diffusion, and others work across the full spectrum from research to diffusion. Existing centers also have varying mandates with some working on specific technologies and others working across a wide range of technology areas. Very few address both mitigation and adaptation technologies.

Within the context of the international climate change negotiations, various stakeholders have promoted the enhancement of innovation systems and technology innovation centers in developing countries. Early in 2008, the UK’s Carbon Trust released a paper entitled ‘Low Carbon Technology Innovation and Diffusion Centers: Accelerating low carbon growth in a developing world’. This paper proposed an integrated model for a series of innovation centers drawing from the experience of the Carbon Trust and the experiences of experts and officials in developing countries.

While there appears to be widespread support for enhancing national and regional technology innovation centers, there has been limited evaluation of existing innovation centers and how these experiences may offer insights into how to expand existing centers, and develop of new centers.

Objectives of the work

The objectives of this work are to:

1. Illustrate and explain the concept of climate technologies, climate technology innovation and associated economic and employment opportunities within the context of developing countries.
2. Illustrate and explain how climate technology innovation centers can help developing countries overcome the challenges of accelerating and widely deploying climate technologies and assist the creation of sustainable SMEs in the space.
3. Provide an inventory of existing national, regional and global climate technology innovation centers;
4. Identify gaps in the existing national, regional and global technology innovation centers.
5. Explore innovative options to enhance access to early stage financing for climate technology SMEs.
6. Provide general recommendations on enhancing the role and effectiveness of technology innovation centers including developing a matrix/guide to help developing countries use these centers within their current development contexts.

For Expressions of Interest:

1. Interested consultants should provide information showing that they are qualified in the field of assignment.
2. Interested consultants should provide information on the technical and managerial capabilities of the firm.
3. Interested consultants should provide information on their core business and years in business.
4. Interested consultants should provide information on the qualifications of key staff.

Please contact Anthony Lambkin at alambkin(at)worldbank.org for more information.

This request was awarded to Dalberg and Bloomberg.

About infoDev's Climate Technology Program:

Building on infoDev’s business incubation experience, the Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK government and infoDev have launched a Climate Technology Program.  This program will pilot climate technology innovation centers in a number of developing countries with the aim to accelerate the development and deployment of innovative technologies at the SME level. The timing of the project is in advance of the COP15 Copenhagen Climate Summit in December 2009, and will be showcased at in Copenhagen where appropriate to provide practical and implementable examples for future action.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. Its mandate is to promote and accelerate sustainable industrial development in developing countries and economies in transition, and work towards improving living conditions in the world's poorest countries by drawing on its combined global resources and expertise.  In recent years, UNIDO has assumed an enhanced role in the global development agenda by focusing its activities on poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability. Today, the Organization is recognized as a highly relevant, specialized and efficient provider of key services in support of the interlinked challenges of reducing poverty through productive activities, promoting the integration of developing countries in global trade through trade capacity building, fostering environmental sustainability in industry, and improving access to energy.