Welcome to IKD

The IKD: Innovation, Knowledge and Development Research Centre is a major contributor to the Open University's international development activity.

Our research themes

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Health, Innovation and Equity

Innovation in science and industry profoundly affects health systems and access to health care and medicines. Yet research on innovation is very poorly integrated with research on health equity. IKD: Innovation, Knowledge and Development works to bridge this gap, investigating the interconnections between innovation and health equity, and generating new knowledge for policy.
Rising Asia

The pace and significance of China's rise has implications for both traditional and emerging powers, as well as for developing countries. Rising Powers Network is a a new network that will place China as the new 'shaper' of global development under the ESRC's Rising Power's Programme.
Finance, Innovation and Equity

Innovation is the fundamental engine of growth, employment and better quality of life. Yet, whether we look at it from the point of view of income distribution, welfare effects, quality of life, scientific advances, or sheer profitability, we observe that such advantages are unevenly distributed.
Bio-energy and 'green-tech'

In the UK policy context, the transition to a low-carbon economy is being envisaged through technological solutions which enhance the commercial use of knowledge in a competitive global market environment. IKD researchers work to identify the range of potential innovation pathways, as a basis to analyse variation, selection and retention of research priorities, generating policy relevant knowledge.
Human Capabilities

Human well-being is about more than income, it depends also on people's opportunities, on what they can be and do. IKD researchers are developing new ways of measuring human capabilities, influencing routine data collection on human wellbeing for policy purposes, and employing the concept of capabilities in new research.

Publications

The latest IKD Working Paper. View all recent publications

IKD Working Paper 66

The public-private interface in public services reforms: analysis and illustrative evidence from the Tanzanian health sector

Paula Tibandebage, Maureen Mackintosh and Tausi Kida
April 2013

Events

The International Development seminar series 2012/2013 has now finished and we are currently working on the new schedule for the next seminar series starting in October 2013. View all upcoming events

Respectable Bodies: Contesting Gendered Spaces in Global Delhi

Wednesday 12 June 2013, 12:30 (lunch from 12:00)
Open University Campus, Chambers Building, Ground Floor, Room 00-13

Dr Melissa Butcher
Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Science, The Open University

Partners

IKD collaborates with:

Members and associates of IKD are based in:

Development Policy & Practice, Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology
Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences
The Open University Business School

Last updated: 13 June 2013

About IKD

The IKD: Innovation, Knowledge and Development Research Centre at The Open University brings together researchers in social and technological innovation; industrial and economic development; politics and governance; and ethics, capabilities and equity in international development. We work with research partners worldwide to generate new knowledge and contribute to inclusive and sustainable development.

More about IKD

International Development

The Open University has been committed to International Development for over twenty years. We are globally recognised for our teaching and pioneering research within the sector, and for driving innovation.

Visit the International Development Office (IDO) website to learn more…

Welcome to IKD

Our research themes

Health, Innovation and Equity

Rising Asia

Finance, Innovation and Equity

Bio-energy and 'green-tech'

Human Capabilities