Technology is one of the main drivers of productivity and economic growth. Developing countries have traditionally had difficulties in both developing technology and absorbing foreign technology.
... See More + However, the recent emergence of tech startups present an opportunity. Tech start-ups are an effective a mechanism to both create local technology and absorb foreign technology. The objective of this report is to provide a better understanding of the status of Beirut’s start-up ecosystem and provide policy recommendations for policy makers and other stakeholders who are interested in supporting the growth and sustainability of the ecosystem. The report is based on an in-depth survey of startups and supportive stakeholders of the ecosystem. The findings point out to an early-to middle stage start-up ecosystem that has passed its nascent growth phase but is still far from maturity. Skills, supportive infrastructure, finance pipeline, and community and networks are examined and gaps are identified. Policy recommendations to tackle these gaps are presented based on international practices.
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Technology is one of the main drivers of productivity and economic growth. Developing countries have traditionally had difficulties in both developing technology and absorbing foreign technology.
... See More + Seventy to eighty percent of the productivity gap between developed and developing countries is estimated to result from the lag in the adoption of technologies in these countries. Tech start-ups are an effective a mechanism to both create local technology and absorb foreign technology. In recent years, there has been a surge in tech start-ups across the world. Fueled by global technology-led cost reductions and increased access to resources, tech entrepreneurs have emerged in both develop and developing countries. However, there is little understanding of how these tech entrepreneurs form ecosystems, their internal dynamics, how they work, what makes them grow and achieve sustainability, how they connect with the local economy to drive productivity and employment, and why some ecosystems are more effective than others The objective of this report is to provide a better understanding of the status of Dar Es Salaam’s start-up ecosystem and provide policy recommendations for policy makers and other stakeholders who are interested in supporting the growth and sustainability of the ecosystem.
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A major concern with the rapid spread of technology is that it replaces some jobs, displacing workers. However, technology may raise firm productivity, generating more jobs.
... See More + The paper contributes to this debate by exploiting a novel panel data set for Chilean firms in all sectors between 2007 and 2013. While previous studies examine the impacts of automation on the use of routine tasks by middle-educated workers. this study focuses on a measure of complex software that is typically used by more educated workers in cognitive and nonroutine tasks for client, production, and business management. The instrumental variables estimates show that in the medium run, firms' adoption of complex software affects firms' employment decisions and the skill content of occupations. The adoption of complex software reallocates employment from skilled workers to administrative and unskilled production workers. This reallocation leads to an increase in the use of routine and manual tasks and a reduction in the use of abstract tasks within firms. Interestingly, the impacts tend to be concentrated in sectors with a less educated workforce, suggesting that technology can constrain job creation for the more skilled workers there. The paper concludes that the type of technology matters for understanding the impacts of technology adoption on the labor market.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8110 JUN 23, 2017
The development objective of the Empowering Poor Communities and Micro-Entrepreneurs in the Georgia Tourism Sector Project for Georgia is to generate employment and increase household incomes for poor and vulnerable communities in the Kakheti and Imereti regions by supporting them to: (i) start and grow micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism sector, and (ii) implement small works for the conservation and maintenance of cultural heritage sites.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; construction waste will be collected and disposed properly by licensed collectors; construction noise will be limited to restricted times agreed to in the permit; During operations the engine covers of generators, air compressors and other powered mechanical equipment shall be closed, and equipment placed as far away from residential areas as possible; if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation; it shall be ensured that provisions are put in place so that artifacts or other possible ‘chance finds’ encountered in excavation or construction are noted and registered, responsible officials contacted, and works activities delayed or modified to account for such finds; all recognized natural habitats, wetlands and protected areas in the immediate vicinity of the activity will not be damaged or exploited, all staff will be strictly prohibited from hunting, foraging, logging or other damaging activities; Active traffic management by trained and visible staff at the site, if required for safe and convenient passage for the public; and ensuring safe and continuous access to office facilities, shops and residences during renovation activities, if the buildings stay open for the public.
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The development objective of the Empowering Poor Communities and Micro-Entrepreneurs in the Georgia Tourism Sector Project for Georgia is to generate employment and increase household incomes for poor and vulnerable communities in the Kakheti and Imereti regions by supporting them to: (i) start and grow micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism sector, and (ii) implement small works for the conservation and maintenance of cultural heritage sites.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; construction waste will be collected and disposed properly by licensed collectors; construction noise will be limited to restricted times agreed to in the permit; During operations the engine covers of generators, air compressors and other powered mechanical equipment shall be closed, and equipment placed as far away from residential areas as possible; if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation; it shall be ensured that provisions are put in place so that artifacts or other possible ‘chance finds’ encountered in excavation or construction are noted and registered, responsible officials contacted, and works activities delayed or modified to account for such finds; all recognized natural habitats, wetlands and protected areas in the immediate vicinity of the activity will not be damaged or exploited, all staff will be strictly prohibited from hunting, foraging, logging or other damaging activities; Active traffic management by trained and visible staff at the site, if required for safe and convenient passage for the public; and ensuring safe and continuous access to office facilities, shops and residences during renovation activities, if the buildings stay open for the public.
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The development objective of the Empowering Poor Communities and Micro-Entrepreneurs in the Georgia Tourism Sector Project for Georgia is to generate employment and increase household incomes for poor and vulnerable communities in the Kakheti and Imereti regions by supporting them to: (i) start and grow micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism sector, and (ii) implement small works for the conservation and maintenance of cultural heritage sites.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; construction waste will be collected and disposed properly by licensed collectors; construction noise will be limited to restricted times agreed to in the permit; During operations the engine covers of generators, air compressors and other powered mechanical equipment shall be closed, and equipment placed as far away from residential areas as possible; if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation; it shall be ensured that provisions are put in place so that artifacts or other possible ‘chance finds’ encountered in excavation or construction are noted and registered, responsible officials contacted, and works activities delayed or modified to account for such finds; all recognized natural habitats, wetlands and protected areas in the immediate vicinity of the activity will not be damaged or exploited, all staff will be strictly prohibited from hunting, foraging, logging or other damaging activities; Active traffic management by trained and visible staff at the site, if required for safe and convenient passage for the public; and ensuring safe and continuous access to office facilities, shops and residences during renovation activities, if the buildings stay open for the public.
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Women entrepreneurs play a critical role in economic development by boosting growth and creating jobs, particularly in the bottom 40 percent. However, women face numerous challenges to financing, owning, and growing businesses, including access to capital and technology, lack of networks and knowledge resources, as well as legal, regulatory, and policy obstacles to business ownership and development.
... See More + The Facility will support programs and activities that eliminate barriers that women face in starting and growing successful SMEs in a variety of sectors, and strengthen the enabling environment for such firms. Given the need for aligned public and private sector interventions to address constraints, the Facility would support complementary approaches through two windows (public and private sector). The Facility would not only provide dedicated resources to foster innovation and new approaches to removing these constraints for women entrepreneurs, it will also help elevate the issue to spur action by governments and private sector. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section two provides the background and sector context for the WBG to engage in the Facility. Section three presents the objectives and key features of the Facility. Section four outlines risks identified along with mitigation measures. Section five provides conclusions and recommendations.
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The development objective of the Empowering Poor Communities and Micro-Entrepreneurs in the Georgia Tourism Sector Project for Georgia is to generate employment and increase household incomes for poor and vulnerable communities in the Kakheti and Imereti regions by supporting them to: (i) start and grow micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism sector, and (ii) implement small works for the conservation and maintenance of cultural heritage sites.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; construction waste will be collected and disposed properly by licensed collectors; construction noise will be limited to restricted times agreed to in the permit; During operations the engine covers of generators, air compressors and other powered mechanical equipment shall be closed, and equipment placed as far away from residential areas as possible; if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation; it shall be ensured that provisions are put in place so that artifacts or other possible ‘chance finds’ encountered in excavation or construction are noted and registered, responsible officials contacted, and works activities delayed or modified to account for such finds; all recognized natural habitats, wetlands and protected areas in the immediate vicinity of the activity will not be damaged or exploited, all staff will be strictly prohibited from hunting, foraging, logging or other damaging activities; Active traffic management by trained and visible staff at the site, if required for safe and convenient passage for the public; and ensuring safe and continuous access to office facilities, shops and residences during renovation activities, if the buildings stay open for the public.
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This document proposes a design for an enterprise support scheme in Świętokrzyskie and Podkarpackie regions of Poland. The objective of the Enterprise Competitiveness Scheme (ECS) is to support further competitiveness of Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in targeted regions to increase their contribution to regional economic growth, particularly through jobs.
... See More + The scheme will boost SMEs abilities to compete with firms outside their region, through increased exports and or outcompeting imports. The ECS will establish an enterprise support system that is focused on demand for services from SMEs, rather than on the supply of particular support initiatives from BSIs. In brief, the ECS is comprised of three windows for enterprise support services: Operational; Strategic; and Group. In all three windows, beneficiary Small and Medium- Size enterprises (SMEs) will receive public financial support for co-financing of business advisory services to improve competitiveness and contribute to regional economic growth.
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Working Paper 115354 JAN 01, 2017
Kilroy,Austin Francis Louis; Tekieli-Bisińska,Dorota; Szczucki,Jan; Gajewski,Maciej; Stronkowski,Piotr KarolDisclosed
This document proposes a design for an enterprise support scheme in Świętokrzyskie and Podkarpackie regions of Poland. The objective of the Enterprise Competitiveness Scheme (ECS) is to support further competitiveness of Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in targeted regions to increase their contribution to regional economic growth, particularly through jobs.
... See More + The scheme will boost SMEs abilities to compete with firms outside their region, through increased exports and or outcompeting imports. The ECS will establish an enterprise support system that is focused on demand for services from SMEs, rather than on the supply of particular support initiatives from BSIs. In brief, the ECS is comprised of three windows for enterprise support services: Operational; Strategic; and Group. In all three windows, beneficiary Small and Medium- Size enterprises (SMEs) will receive public financial support for co-financing of business advisory services to improve competitiveness and contribute to regional economic growth.
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Working Paper 115354 JAN 01, 2017
Kilroy,Austin Francis Louis; Tekieli-Bisińska,Dorota; Szczucki,Jan; Gajewski,Maciej; Stronkowski,Piotr KarolDisclosed
Uganda's growth in gross domestic product of the 2000s was accompanied by high growth rates of labor productivity across industries producing tradable goods and services.
... See More + This came about primarily as a result of investment in equipment and other fixed assets, but also entailed substantial gains in total factor productivity Based on data from two waves of the Uganda Business Indicators survey this paper estimates that economy wide aggregate labor productivity and aggregate TFP grew at average annual rates of 13 t and 3 percent, respectively between survey years 2002 and 2009. Part of the growth in productivity on each measure reflected gains from technical progress made at the establishment level and within narrowly defined industries. But it was also in part the outcome of reallocation of labor and capital within as well as across industries. In particular, the paper estimates that about one-fifth of the aggregate growth in labor productivity between the two years reflected the shifting of labor toward industries and sectors where it was more productive on average and at the margin. The rest of the observed growth in labor productivity reflected gains made within narrowly defined industries. But almost in every case 55 to 90 percent of the observed "within industry" growth in labor productivity represented allocative efficiency gains from the correction of intra-industry inter-firm misallocation of labor. The balance of the observed within-industry growth in labor productivity represented establishment-level gains in technical efficiency.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7909 DEC 07, 2016
The Internet has transformed the way countries trade by reducing the costs of exporting. This paper quantifies the impact of Internet adoption on international trade.
... See More + It shows that the Internet has a positive, nuanced, impact on international trade: bilateral exports are more affected when Internet adoption increases in the exporter than importer. A 10 percent increase in the exporter's Internet adoption leads to a 1.9 percent increase in bilateral exports, largely explained by an increase in the number of goods exported. A 10 percent increase in the importer's Internet adoption leads to a 0.6 percent increase in bilateral exports, explained by an increase in the average value of existing exported goods. The analysis also finds that when both countries have high levels of Internet adoption they are more likely to trade with each other, compared with country pairs with different (high and low) or low levels of Internet adoption.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7785 AUG 08, 2016
Little is known about innovation in developing countries, partly because of the lack of comparable and reliable data. Collecting data on firm-level innovation is challenging because of the subjective definition of what determines an innovation, a problem that is exacerbated in developing countries where innovation is likely to be more incremental and less radical.
... See More + This paper contributes to the literature by presenting the results of an experiment aiming to identify the survey instrument that better captures firm-level innovation in developing countries. The paper shows that a small set of questions included in a multi-topic, firm-level survey does not provide an accurate picture of firm-level innovation and tends to overestimate innovation rates. Issues related to framing explain some of the unreliability of innovation responses, while cognitive problems do not appear to play a significant role.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7696 JUN 06, 2016
Accurate measurement of stock levels, turnover, and profitability in microenterprises in developing countries is difficult due to the fact that the majority of these firms do not keep detailed records.
... See More + We test the use of RFID tags as a means of objectively measuring stock levels and stock flow in small retail firms in Sri Lanka. In principle this offers the potential to track stock movements accurately. We compare the stock counts obtained from RFID reads to physical stock counts and to survey responses. We have three main findings. First, current RFID-technology is more difficult to use, and more time-consuming to employ, than we envisaged. Second, the technology works reasonably well for paper products, but very poorly for most products sold by microenterprises: on average we were able to read only about one-quarter of the products tagged, and there was considerable day-to-day variation in read-efficiency. Third, a comparison of survey responses and physical stock-takes shows much higher accuracy for survey measures. As a result, we conclude that this technology is currently unsuitable for improving stock measurement in microenterprises, except perhaps for a few products.
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Journal Article 104048 MAR 16, 2016
De Mel,Suresh; Herath,Dammika; Mckenzie,David J.; Pathak,YuvrajDisclosed
Using firm-level data for Jordan, the paper estimates the extent to which growth spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI) to local firms stem from persistent learning externalities (i.e., they endure even after foreign investment leaves as knowledge has been transferred to local firms) or from transitory effects (e.g., demand increases that evaporate following disinvestment).
... See More + The paper find that spillovers have a significant transitory nature, with employment and capital growth declining when FDI falls, particularly in downstream industries supplied by locals. This suggests that if FDI-attracting policies are intended to promote sustainable growth, it may be more effective to attract and retain FDI via long-term structural policies, for instance, through low corporate tax rates rather than temporary tax holidays or through policies that strengthen the domestic absorptive capacity and linkages between foreign and local firms.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7591 MAR 02, 2016
Gabon joined the Central African Backbone Project with the objective to increase thegeographical coverage and the use of high capacity bandwidth network and reduce the costs ofcommunication services in the territory of the Gabonese Republic.
... See More + Given the nature of the works and the use of soils in the areas impacted by the project, the implementation of the project will cause loss of goods and sources of revenues, and trigger the operational policies of the World Bank. In order to minimize negative socio-environmental impacts during the implementation of the project and to optimize its positive impacts, the project required a Resettlement Action Plan (RAP), to comply with Gabonese regulations and the requirements of the World Bank. The RAP is prepared in accordance with the recommendations of the Resettlement Policy Framework of the CAB4 project.
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