The UN Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries’ new report “The State of Science, Technology and Innovation in the Least Developed Countries” was launched last week. The UN Technology Bank’s report is the first comprehensive analysis of the current status of science, technology and innovation (STI) in LDCs.

The report is a timely and important contribution to our understanding of the progress made by the 46 least developed countries in transferring technologies and building science, technology and innovation capacities. Even beyond the COVID-19 setback, structural impediments and inequality persist in these countries, while significant rural–urban gaps also continue to impact people’s livelihoods.

The information used to produce this report includes:

• An extensive literature and statistics review
• 14 interviews with high-level stakeholders
• 68 interviews at the country level
• Data on STI in the least developed countries, and large survey targeting the 46 least developed countries’ STI ecosystems conducted from June 2021 to September 2021, to which 25 countries responded.

The conceptual framework used to describe the STI innovation systems in the least developed countries combines the national innovation systems framework, which captures capabilities, and the functional analysis of innovation systems. This report involved gathering a large amount of quantitative and qualitative information on STI in the least developed countries that will serve as an information repository and baseline for future reports.

The report was led by project manager Francie Sadeski and colleagues including Matthieu Lacave, Matthias Ploeg, Laura Rennie and Elisabeth Zaparucha.

Matthias Ploeg
Managing Partner

Elisabeth Zaparucha
Managing Partner

Matthieu Lacave
Managing partner

Francie Sadeski
Managing Partner

Laura Rennie
Senior Consultant