Innovative Sri Lanka
View(s):Away from the floods and mounting post-flood work, the government’s attention was drawn this week to a conference put together by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on sustainable development through ‘foresight and innovation’. The UNDP-led meeting brought some ministries and the private sector together to chart an innovative course for Sri Lanka’s vision to be a high-income country by the year 2030.
Reaching a status similar to Japan or Singapore, 14 years from now, is a challenging task but not un-achievable. Sri Lankans have what it takes to reach such a status but is there political will to make this happen?
As an example fast forward to 2030 (Vision A): More middle class families able to afford holidays, only electric vehicles on the streets of Colombo or grama sevakas replaced by nattily-dressed officials who respect the public. (Vision B) City roads continue to be trapped in flash floods with traffic moving at a snails pace, parliamentarians fighting in the legislature over personal issues, plantation workers yet to be recognized as any other legitimate worker in Sri Lanka, or continuation of subsidies. Most Sri Lankans, if asked, would prefer Vision A as the development paradigm in the year 2030.
Innovation can play a big role – in government, in the private sector, in civil society – in cutting through barriers, bureaucracy and apathy. Some of the innovations of the future would include a cashless society (use of credit cards and other cashless instruments for trading and exchange of goods) in Sri Lanka. Or a smart card that carries all your personal information that can be used for any purpose. There were many positives from the innovation summit organized by the UNDP. It saw representatives from several countries share their experiences of how they used the innovative path of development and succeeded in reaching stated goals.
Denmark for instance showed how innovation led the country being not only one of the most developed in the industrialised world but with a ‘happy’ population plus a good place to do business. So what is innovative development, one may ask? How different is it from the development path that has been followed so far? The difference is in the ability to collect a set of ideas, a set of creative ideas and move forward in a sustainable way where economic development also occurs without harming the country’s natural resources and eco systems. However this is where the crisis begins. Are Sri Lankan politicians capable of allowing a free flow of ideas that would result in policy decisions?
Or are Sri Lankans able to elect a set of sensible politicians who permit the flow of ideas for public good? Going by past experience, on both counts, this is unlikely to happen. However a start has to be made somewhere and in this context the UNDP summit brought to the fore many ways in which Sri Lanka can join the ranks of other nations that have welcomed ideas and seen their people flourish in addition to enriching the country. The world is filled with ideas, billions of it. Every second, an idea in an individual’s mind can change a business, a community, the entire world. Facebook, Google or Twitter have all changed people’s behaviour and made their creators very, very wealthy.
One of the best ways in which ideas are being transformed into businesses or for public good is through start-ups, a community of young people who are quitting cosy, high paying jobs to start off on their own, building on an idea. Capital is raised through angel investors, venture capitalists or their own funds. These start-ups or the small community of start-ups didn’t figure at the innovation summit, which was unfortunate because today’s millennials are the best equipped with a bagful of ideas for an innovative future . According to the organisers, the recommendations from the summit which was setting up a platform for a 2030 development agenda,
would be put together and discussed in various fora. One hopes that such recommendations on issues ranging from energy, conservation, climate change, business to governance, equality and public administration would also lead to a vibrant and healthy debate with opposition parties, provincial administrations and the people. Often some of these conferences are top heavy with government politicians, officials and foreign experts, charting a development path for the future leaving out most of the people who matter. It was not clear whether opposition political leaders, provincial leaders and civil society at large were invited or made part of the discourse.
Sri Lanka’s bane has been in its inability since independence to formulate policies – for example in sectors like education, health and social development – that would be accepted by all, not only the party in power. Even the best of policies have been thrown by the wayside when a new government is elected. This is not the case in the developed world where good policies stay irrespective of political changes. Government and policy makers need to engage today’s younger generation in the development discussion in addition to bringing all other stakeholders irrespective of their political beliefs.
This is also one of the biggest challenge facing the recommendations and outcome of the UNDP summit. Being able to transform at least 50 per cent of those ideas into reality with the consent of all concerned groups will be a great achievement indeed. If not, it would have become another one of the many ‘talk-shops’ that Sri Lanka has so often seen in the name of development.