Accelerating innovation in technologies and business models is essential to help reduce the current and long-term impacts of climate change and support green growth in developing countries.
Compared to most industrialised countries, developing countries have relatively weak innovation systems and institutional capabilities to facilitate and promote innovation. The UK Department for International Development (DFID) has contracted a Service Provider to design, establish and manage a new “Innovation Prizes for Environment and Development” programme. The programme, known as “Ideas to Impact”, is expected to launch and award over five years up to five innovation prizes that seek solutions to poor people’s access to affordable clean energy, safe drinking water and other climate/environmental services.
Itad is leading the design and implementation of Ideas to Impact’s Monitoring & Evaluation as part of the IMC-led service provider consortium – www.ideastoimpact.net The Itad M&E team has been structured to sit outside the core IP4ED team to provide a level of independence and “fresh eyes” to evaluation processes. The M&E system supports prize and programme monitoring, results reporting and evaluation in order to assess the results being delivered by the programme as well as supporting the delivery of eight evaluation and research papers – five on the evaluation of the prizes and three on the value and use of different prizes – a set of global public domain knowledge products contributing to a body of new knowledge on innovation prizes for development.
The M&E team will contribute to new knowledge in innovation prize M&E through a series of knowledge products including blogs and best practice briefs – robust and meaningful innovation prize M&E is currently a little explored area.
Image © Local Climates, Global Impacts. Photo Credit: Abbie Trayler-Smith / Panos Pictures / Department for International Development