Research Project (Ongoing)

Knowledge Co-creation With Emerging Countries

The growing presence of new development actors, particularly from emerging countries, has led to a diversification of the development cooperation landscape. This trend has been accompanied by the expansion of initiatives by these actors to actively disseminate their own experiences and expertise. In addition, due to the increased complexity of development challenges as well as the progress in digitalization in recent years, one-sided assistance, such as the transfer of technology and knowledge from developed countries to developing countries, can no longer address the challenges that developing countries face. As such, Japan needs to enhance the quality of its development cooperation by upgrading its intellectual contribution based on comparative advantage, and by engaging in co-creation with emerging countries that possess more recent development experience.

Japan has advanced the externalization of its distinctive tacit knowledge, systematically articulating it in concepts such as translative adaptation and capacity development. Emerging countries appear to have also cultivated unique development philosophies and methodologies to date, based on their experience of receiving knowledge and technology from developed countries as well as from sharing their own experience and expertise with other countries.

With this context in mind, the JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development (JICA Ogata Research Institute) has launched a study on “Knowledge Co-creation With Emerging Countries.”

This study aims to better understand the philosophies, approaches and features of development cooperation of emerging countries, comparing them with those from Japanese development cooperation and recapturing the features of the approaches taken by Japanese development cooperation. The study also aims to explore how future co-creation partnerships with emerging countries might look like, as well as what challenges should be addressed and what measures can be taken in order to establish and reinforce such partnerships. Moreover, through this study we aim to develop networks with researchers, policy makers and practitioners from emerging countries for future activities.

Members
Chiefs: Ohno Izumi, Professor Emeritus, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) (also Senior Research Advisor, JICA Ogata Research Institute); and Kamei Haruko, Director General, JICA Ogata Research Institute.

From the JICA Ogata Research Institute: Akutsu Kentaro, Orita Tomomi, Endo Kei, Saito Yukari, Kim Yoonjung, and Takeuchi Kaito.

From JICA: Murotani Ryutaro, Akimoto Yoshie, Tsubota Yumiko, Senjyu Makiko, Shimizu Tomohiro, Narumi Yukino, Shimura Yoko, Ban Daichi, Ishigame Keiji, Honma Toru, Kobchai Songsrisanga, and Kaneda Mizuki.