Putting science
at the heart of development
Definitions
Definitions have been adapted from three main sources: Cordis (ECC), the Frascati Manual (FM) and the Oslo Manual (OM), with thanks to the providers.
Developing countries are increasingly recognising the importance of science in developing their economies, and the challenges that entails.
I
Indicators
Quantifiable factors that serve as indirect measures of underlying behaviour of interest to policy-makers or others; the number of a country's patent applications per million population, for example, is one indicator of its innovative capacity (ECC).
Industrial liaison office (ILO)
A unit within a university or large public research institution that interacts with industrial users of the institution's research results and intellectual property, for example by negotiating licensing agreements on patented inventions. ILOs are well placed to support spin-off companies, since they have close links with both the research and business communities (ECC).
Innovation
The conversion of new knowledge into products and processes that result in economic and social benefits. Innovation is now acknowledged to result from complex long-term interactions between many players in an innovation system (ECC).
Innovation system
The network of organisations within an given economic system that are directly involved in the creation, diffusion and application of scientific and technological knowledge, as well as the organisations responsible for the coordination and support of these processes.
Intangible assets
That part of a company's value that is made up of its staff and their skills, knowledge and creativity, the fundamental sources of wealth and value in a knowledge-based economy (see also tacit knowledge) (ECC).
Intellectual property (IP)
Original inventions and proprietary knowledge belonging to a company or an individual (see also intellectual property rights) (ECC).
Intellectual property rights (IPR)
Rights to the exclusive use of intellectual property that have been granted by a national or supra-national authority. The most common forms of intellectual property are patents, trademarks and 'industrial designs' (ECC).
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