Her presentations emphasised that while the 4th Industrial Revolution and the green transformation pose significant challenges to developing countries, they also offer digital and green windows of opportunity to catch up with and even leapfrog the Global North.

However, she cautioned that making the most of these opportunities required that the global community incentivise technological advancements towards inclusive and sustainable development and create and transfer more appropriate technologies to developing countries. She also emphasised the importance of developing countries’ own efforts and agency in developing their technological and digital competencies and innovation systems.

Professor Fu spoke at an informal interactive dialogue on commodity markets organised by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on 31 March 2022.

The dialogue was initiated by the UN General Assembly to review world commodity trends and prospects and to explore strategies for economic and export diversification, particularly in commodity-dependent developing countries (CDDCs).

Professor Fu spoke at a panel on ‘Overcoming dependence through technology and innovation’, and made a presentation on ‘The role of the state in laying the foundations for technology development and adoption in developing countries and CDDCs in particular.’

Access the powerpoint of her presentation here.

Professor Fu also participated in the 25th session of the Council on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) on 23 March 2022.

The CSTD acts as a forum for strategic planning, sharing lessons learned and best practices, providing foresight about critical trends in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in key sectors of the economy, the environment and society, and drawing attention to emerging and disruptive technologies.

The priority themes for the 25th session were ‘Industry 4.0 for inclusive development’ and

‘Science, technology and innovation for sustainable urban development in a post-pandemic world’.

Professor Fu participated in the High-level Panel on Industry 4.0 for inclusive development.

Access the powerpoint of her presentation here.

Professor Fu also took part in the launch of the World Intellectual Property Report by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) on 7 April. She participated in a panel titled ‘Are we at a crossroads of major changes in the direction of innovation?’ at which she discussed innovation in developing countries.

Access the powerpoint of her presentation here.

In addition, she took part in the Fifth Session of the ’WIPO Conversation’, which explored new technologies and their possible uses in IP administration and registration as well as the disruption they may cause to the IP system.

She introduced her research that has developed a tool for valuing early-stage technologies, as well as the new spinout from that research, OxValue.AI.

Access the powerpoint of her presentation here.

Find out more about OxValue.AI here.

Professor Xiaolan Fu is Professor of Technology and International Development at ODID and Director of the Technology and Management Centre for Development.