Measuring inclusive innovation. New approaches towards an elusive phenomenon

Recently, the topic of inclusive innovation has gained prominence in academic discourse as well as in political and economic debates. Unfortunately, however, most discussions on the topic remain based on insights from individual case studies, making it difficult to arrive at robust generalisations and conclusions. In part, this limitation arises from the fact that inclusive innovation is defined by its effect and impact on society. However, society will not immediately change in «response» to a single innovation, so that attempts at measuring the «extent» of inclusive innovation become hampered by its very definition. Nonetheless, this paper demonstrates that there are options to collect robust information within an analytical framework. First, the authors present composite measures to assess country level challenges and capacities that induce and enable inclusive innovation - based on statistical data. Second, they report result from a broad-based survey of social entrepreneurs, impact investors, aid workers, and academic experts to gauge the actual extent and dynamics of inclusive innovation activities in 21 Asian countries.