Inclusion-oriented innovators and social entrepreneurs are often said to be motivated by the desire to disrupt what they see as an unjust equilibrium. This can be on the basis of access to, or participation in, innovation according to demographic attributes (e.g. gender, race, disability status), geography (e.g. rural or socio-economically disadvantaged areas), and industry (e.g. traditional or low-productivity sectors).

In short, they are motivated to drive inclusion – demographically, spatially or industrially – in order to make needed change to the status quo. In our work, we examine the pursuit of innovation and entrepreneurship that has social and environmental aims, and local context, at its heart.

In this session, we’ll discuss what inclusive innovation is, the ways in which it is disruptive, and what the Covid-19 pandemic means to its potential. We’ll focus on inclusive innovation in Southeast Asia in particular.

Speakers:

Dr Robyn Klingler-Vidra is Reader in Political Economy at King's College London. She is the author of The Venture Capital State: The Silicon Valley Model in East Asia (Cornell University Press, 2018). She holds a Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange Research Grant (2019-2022). She is a Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (HEA).

Alex Glennie is Senior Policy Manager at Nesta's Innovation Growth Lab (IGL). She leads engagement work with IGL's international network of innovation policymakers, supporting them to embed experimentation practices in how they work and facilitating learning opportunities between them.