Building Innovation Capabilities for Sustainable Industrialisation

Capacity mobilisation and capacity building are central to achieving the goals of the climate regime of the Paris Agreement. However, capacity building initiatives have largely failed as they were hitherto not sufficiently focused on local agendas and self-reliance. This timely book provides useful guidance for change in this respect. Putting local actors first, it provides fresh perspectives to the debate about the economic co-benefits of climate action, especially business development, jobs and technological learning. Focusing on insights from renewable electrification experiences in East Africa, the authors provide compelling arguments and guidance for ambitious policies and capacity-building initiatives to capture the gains from the greening of energy systems. It is a must read for scholars and policymakers who are interested in local determination and participation in the transition to low carbon energy regimes.
Youba Sokona, Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Innovation and Renewable Electrification in Kenya (IREK) project’s book on Building innovation capabilities for sustainable industrialization is a great insight of the capability development in renewable energy processes in East Africa and the challenges faced in renewable energy access and adoption in today’s fast changing and evolving East African market. The book provides excellent advice on how to build effective and resilient renewable energy systems that create manufacturing jobs and whose deployments generate highly skilled service employment that can contribute to the economic growth of the East African states. A book well worth reading by academic researchers as well as policy makers and practitioners with an interest in renewable energy pathways and related discussions on capabilities for sustainable industrialization.
Dr. Edward Mungai, CEO Kenya Climate Innovation Group

The effective development and diffusion of green technologies is critical to development in sub-Saharan Africa. The major strength of this book is that it combines a macro-level perspective of national and international dynamics with a micro-level focus on renewable energy projects to unpack this process. The authors show that innovation at various levels is a central prerequisite for development and diffusion that attains both environmental and economic benefits associated with the diffusion of solar and wind power technologies. Drawing on a novel framework combining technological capabilities, global value chains and innovation systems, this book will make an important contribution to theoretical debates about pathways of diffusion in green sectors. More importantly, the application of this framework to detailed renewable electrification case studies allows the authors to provide deep insights and concrete advice for policies aimed at creating economic development from sustainability transition in low- and middle-income countries.
Xiaolan FU, Director of the Technology and Management Centre for Development at Oxford University.

This book addresses two aspects of long-term development in African countries. One of these is about the expansion of renewable electricity production. The other, much broader, is about change in the sectoral structure of production in the economy – a source of increased employment, productivity growth and higher incomes, but also, beyond that, a basis for achieving the multi-dimensional goals of sustainable industrialisation. Drawing on a wealth of case studies, the authors suggest that the expansion of renewable electrification, sometimes impressive, has made only limited contributions to structural change. Behind this, they argue, lie limited activities to develop the necessary technological and managerial capabilities. They throw down a challenge to explore new kinds of policy action in different kinds of context.
Martin Bell, Emeritus Professor, Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex

The great potential of Africa can only be realized through big scale job creation based upon industrialization and technological development. This book helps us understand, how this can be combined with economic, social and ecological sustainability. Through a series of case studies, it gives insights in how green electrification, based on technologies developed outside Africa, can be implemented in such a way that it helps building local capabilities fundamental for sustainable industrialization. It is a book worth reading for scholars and policy makers.
Bengt-Åke Lundvall, Emeritus Professor, Aalborg University and Lund University.