Universities to lead inclusive innovation for community transformation through participatory approaches – Costa Rica and Uganda cases

Universities are core actors of research, higher education teaching and learning as well as dissemination of knowledge, and community engagement. Universities are changing from the “ivory tower” oriented philosophy and a traditional view on knowledge production and dissemination towards an interactive mode based on collaboration and interaction between universities and external stakeholders. The National System of Innovation (NSI) emphasizes systematic interaction among universities, firms, and the policy level to promote industrial innovation and global competitiveness. However, from a democratic perspective the NSI should equally link innovation to inclusive and sustainable development and support a concept of inclusive innovation activating all sectors and members of society especially the marginalised people, informal sector actors, indigenous knowledge holders and the educational sector to participate in creating and actualizing innovation opportunities. With a focus on universities in developing countries and emerging economies, this paper is researching universities as key actors for strengthening inclusive innovation. The paper focuses on two cases: Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica and Gulu University in Uganda. The paper is explorative with the aim to look for lessons learned and patterns across the two cases. The two cases share an interest in focusing on partnerships, novel pedagogy, and participatory approaches as means for co-creation, co-production, and co-learning, aiming at developing inclusive innovation practices.