Resources
Transferring inspirational instead of best or good practices: our perspective on how learning is happening
It is essential for our work with clients, partners and colleagues to broaden the perspective of what is possible. We aim to collaborate with our partners in exploring new ways of doing things within their contexts. We focus on fostering a more systemic understanding that allows the development of new constellations tailored to their situations.
The LED System approach: experiences from different countries
In this article we discuss specific country examples of the experiences, differences and commonalities of this approach in Georgia, Uzbekistan and Nepal. In a nutshell, the LED System approach comprises simultaneous work with local, regional and national level stakeholders when promoting economic development at the local level.
Mapping the possibilities of change in complex environments
Conventional change management is based on the premise that it is possible to close the gap between the current state of a system and a desired future state through a series of steps. Leadership plays a role in setting a desired vision and must balance the tensions between the pioneers and the traditionalists.
Systemic Competitiveness: Application of the framework for sustainable transformation in territories
Our company´s way of thinking has been shaped by the normative framework of "Systemic Competitiveness (SysCo)". The framework was developed in the 1990s by the founder of Mesopartner, Jörg Meyer-Stamer, with his colleagues at the German Development Institute (GDI), a German think tank for global development and international cooperation (Esser et al., 1996).
Making dynamism in the Systemic Competitiveness framework explicit
The Mesopartner approach is centred around the Systemic Competitiveness framework, characterised by its four spheres: meta, macro, meso and micro. As a canvas with four layers, it is a valuable method for identifying and categorising different types of stakeholders and features of an economic system.
Mesopartner’s Quality Infrastructure (QI) trajectory: accelerating the understanding of the relevance of QI for development
Quality infrastructure (QI) has become one of Mesopartner’s key thematic areas. Our company works with the leading development partners in this highly specialised field, which intersects trade, health, environment, energy and related policy fields.
Improving the performance of networks
We are all members of networks. Some networks are social, like our family, friends and the communities we are part of. Other networks are more formal, such as associations or working groups focused on formulating new policy recommendations.
Reflections on a decade with Mesopartner: a journey to discover complexity
Our daughter was born in Iowa City in August 2013, about two years after my wife and I had moved there. I can still picture the moment we left the hospital. We stood just outside the doors, both looking down at our newborn in her little carrier, then back at each other with a shared, silent question: Now what?
Supporting decision-making despite turbulence and uncertainty
Development projects are designed to address challenges that persist in developing contexts and to assist stakeholders in breaking through the forces that keep local systems trapped in unsustainable configurations. In development cooperation, we must navigate the paradox that despite all the change and fluidity in developing countries, many patterns stubbornly resist change.
Using Sensemaker® in our praxis: capturing narratives to identify possibilities for change
For the past ten years, we have been using the ethnographic research suite Sensemaker® to assist our clients in detecting small shifts in attitudes or conditions in their contexts. Sensemaker enables the collection of stories or observations directly from individuals or communities.
Mesopartner’s 20th anniversary event
Sometimes when you look back, review and remember how you started, you ask yourself what has changed and what this might mean for the future. Mesopartner’s 20th anniversary event gave us the opportunity to look back as well as forward.
Mesopartner Reflection 2023-2024
Twenty years after founding the company, we can look back on a rich history of exploring various development
topics, themes and approaches and developing an extensive toolbox.
Annual Reflection 2020 (Spanish)
Estamos viviendo en una época de cambios disruptivos. A principios de 2020 esto se hizo muy evidente.
Annual Reflection 2019 (Spanish)
2019 ha sido un año de aniversarios para Mesopartner, algunos gratos y otros tristes.
Annual Reflection 2018 (Spanish)
La Reflexión Anual (RA) del año pasado estuvo enfocada, en el marco de la Competitividad Sistémica, en particular el nivel meso y las organizaciones que lo conforman, su rol, su naturaleza y los desafíos que enfrentan.
Annual Reflection 2017 (Spanish)
Con frecuencia nos preguntan: “¿Qué significa ‘meso’ en el nombre de la empresa?” La palabra ’meso’ tiene un significado muy profundo para nosotros, por varias razones.
Annual Reflection 2014 (Spanish)
En la comunidad del desarrollo existe un consenso cada vez mayor de que la forma en que se ha trabajado hasta ahora en el ámbito del desarrollo es demasiado simplista.
Annual Reflection 2016 (Spanish)
El objeto de nuestra serie de Reflexiones Anuales es ilustrar cómo abordamos en cada momento nuestro trabajo desde una perspectiva específica.
Annual Reflection 2015 (Spanish)
En vista de la respuesta positiva que suscitó nuestra decisión de dedicar la Reflexión Anual de 2014 a un solo tema, la complejidad, Mesopartner ha resuelto este año centrar nuevamente su Reflexión Anual en un tema específico.
Annual Reflection 2021 - 2022 (Spanish)
El Covid-19 nos hizo perder el ritmo. Aunque solemos elaborar nuestra Reflexión Anual cada año, durante los dos últimos años nos tomamos un descanso.
Understanding Market Failures in an Economic Development Context
Many development practitioners are familiar with the phrase “market failure”. However, not many people relate to the topic in a practical sense. Many remember boring lectures in universities where market failures were presented as abstract theoretical concepts in economics 101. In this book, Dr Shawn Cunningham takes a perspective that the clues to begin to address market failures are in the world around us...
Milestones in a process of innovation, change and development
This anthology brings together a large variety of articles and comments by development scholars and practitioners from all over the world. The opening article and pivot is a reprint of an influential publication on systemic competitiveness. Based on this concept, the authors are taking a look back and also ahead at various topics related to territorial development, value chain and cluster promotion, innovation and change.
Value Chain Promotion
Value chain promotion is increasingly being used by donor organisations and development agencies to conduct private sector promotion in a more effective way. This volume addresses two issues. What are the consequences of the phenomenon of value chains for SME promotion efforts? How can value chain promotion be effectively conducted at a local or regional level?
Reducing Red Tape
Increasingly governments and international organisations are attempting to reduce bureaucracy and red tape. While many of these reforms are aimed at national laws and reducing the costs of compliance, not much guidance is available on how local stakeholders can identify and attempt to streamline red tape at a local level. In this publication, Shawn Cunningham and Mattia Wegmann share their practical experience in reducing red tape at a local level. The manual is aimed at local economic development facilitators that are working on improving the cooperation between public and private stakeholders.
Building Competitive Rural Locations
Rural communities in developing and transformation countries do not have to wait for somebody to save them. It is perfectly possible for them to boost the local economy using their own resources and ideas, and their own energy and creativity.
Creating Prosperous Towns
How to launch and sustain local economic development in developing and transformation countries: This book introduces Local Economic Development (LED) as an organic process. It will help you to get an LED process going quickly. It will tell you how not to spend too much time and money on research. It will explain how to pull various stakeholders into a participatory process, and how to move into practical activities within a short period of time.
The future relevance of good and best practices
Today development practitioners recognise the increasing complexity in their field of work and accept that there are no simple one-size-fits-all solutions. Nobody questions the assertion that context matters. On the other hand, there is a lot of accumulated knowledge about what has worked in the past and – even more so – what has not worked. Therefore we do not want to start from scratch when working on a new project in a region or sector. We usually apply concepts and techniques that have proven to work in different contexts. The application of these kinds of good or best practices is efficient, which avoids having to reinvent the wheel in every new project.
Approaching Mesopartner themes in a complexity-sensitive way
Whenever Mesopartner combines contract work with significant action research, we call such a working area a “theme”. Taking complexity into account introduces a new awareness and sensitivity into the application not only of our themes, but also of our methods and instruments. Our understanding of complexity challenges the way we approach our current themes and calls for an active awareness.
PACA and complexity – reflections on Burundi
In the light of recent discussions within Mesopartner on the use of complexity thinking in Local and Regional Economic Development (LRED), this article looks back at the Participatory Appraisal of Competitive Advantage (PACA) exercise in the community of Gisozi in Burundi in May–June 2013.
We suggest that the PACA approach anticipates aspects of complexity thinking in LRED. Some of the prescriptions to promote change in complex systems are already present within PACA. PACA’s effectiveness could be enhanced by taking this further.
Understanding the effect of complexity on our instruments and tools
In its early years, Mesopartner developed a reputation for a portfolio of simple-to-use analytical tools that were grouped into methodologies, such as PACA, RALIS, Compass and others. Over time these instruments became popular as a means to equip experts to conduct analyses of local economies in order to find ways to upgrade the local economy and collaboration between different economic actors. The beauty of many of these instruments is that they are simple enough for people to use even without having a deep understanding of topics such as economics, geography, competition theory, innovation theories or good governance.
Life cycles of LED paradigms in the last 50 years
For many decades we have been reflecting on how to address economic development in general and Local Economic Development (LED) in particular. Constantly changing development paradigms during the last 50 years were based on different world views and interpretations about how to promote businesses and strengthen competitiveness in a changing environment. Development paradigms are not necessarily wrong or incorrect, but they might be insufficient.
Designing and monitoring change initiatives to tackle complex problems
When tasked with designing and monitoring change initiatives in complex contexts, we are facing particular challenges that we cannot tackle with conventional approaches. Traditional approaches to project design and monitoring are based on the premise that we can predict a pathway of change that starts with the intervention of the project and follows a clear line of cause and effect until the change eventually reaches the goal level.
Complexity – what’s the fuss?
In our work in international development we face different kinds of problems. Some are relatively easy to solve, and others have proved difficult to tackle. Many problems persist even when we believe we have solved them. Particularly social problems such as poverty,
unemployment, inequality, violence, etc. seem to persist without a solution in sight.
Annual Reflection 2004
2004 was the first full year of operation for mesopartner, a company that was registered as a “Partnerschaftsgesellschaft” (partnership) under German law on 18 July 2003.
Annual Reflection 2005
This Annual Report answers the question: “What does mesopartner do apart from PACA?” PACA (Participatory Appraisal of Competitive Advantage, a method to launch or re-focus territorial development initiatives) and RALIS (Rapid Appraisal of Local Innovation Systems) are our flagship products.
Annual Reflection 2006
2006 was an exciting and positive year for mesopartner. One of the reasons was the positive experience with our own events.
Annual Reflection 2007
In the successful year 2007, mesopartner has been expanding in several respects.
Annual Reflection 2011
In 2011 Mesopartner introduced some novelties in and around the company, became involved in the reactivation of previous work areas, intensified current activities and constantly deepened the expertise and learning in topics that the partners are involved in.
Annual Reflection 2008
2008 was a year of change and innovation for mesopartner in several respects
Annual Reflection 2009
2009 was a year of sorrow and sadness for mesopartner, as we had to come to terms with the unexpected and untimely death of our friend, partner and co-founder Jörg Meyer- Stamer (30 October 1958 - 1 May 2009).
Annual Reflection 2010
Mesopartner used the year 2010 as a year of reflection and for reorientation after the passing away of the company’s co-founder, Dr Jörg Meyer-Stamer in 2009.
Annual Reflection 2013
After a decade of operation as a multi-national micro-enterprise, Mesopartner is proud to announce the celebration of its 10th anniversary.
Annual Reflection 2014
There is an increasing understanding within the development community that the way development work has been done so far is too simplistic.
Mapping the possibilities of change in complex environments
Conventional change management is based on the premise that it is possible to close the gap between the current state of a system and a desired future state through a series of steps. Leadership plays a role in setting a desired vision and must balance the tensions between the pioneers and the traditionalists. This approach to change management may work in ordered contexts where it is easily possible to determine and coordinate the execution of a series of steps towards a goal and where leadership can use its authority over people and resources to keep a change project on track.
Local and Regional Economic Development Dialogue Facilitation Guidelines
Public Private Cooperative Dialogue (PPCD) is a means to an end and seeks to make companies and cooperatives more competitive and sustainable while generating prosperity and ensuring inclusive processes that involve municipalities and other local communities (The Cluster Competitiveness Group, 2011)...
The Chamber System of Nepal - Reflections and entry points for improvement
The national chambers of commerce and industry play a key role in representing and promoting private sector interests worldwide. They provide the necessary guidance and support to their members – the businesses that they represent, especially in structural change processes and transition.
Business Membership Organisation Strategy Guidelines
The following guideline for designing a participatory approach to organisational strategy development of Business Membership Organisations (BMO) was first used to support the provincial chapters of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) in their restructuring process...
Business Climate Survey (BCS) Manual - A brief handbook to replicate the approach in Nepal
The Local and Provincial Economic Development (LPED) Project, initially planned for three years (June 2019 – May 2022), aimed to improve the framework conditions for economic development in eleven selected municipalities and three provinces in Nepal...
Improving the performance of networks
We are all members of networks. Some networks are social, like our family, friends and the communities we are part of. Other networks are more formal, such as associations or working groups focused on formulating new policy recommendations...
Making dynamism in the Systemic Competitiveness framework explicit
The Mesopartner approach is centred around the Systemic Competitiveness framework, characterised by its four spheres: meta, macro, meso and micro. As a canvas with four layers, it is a valuable method for identifying and categorising different types of stakeholders and features of an economic system.
Supporting decision-making despite turbulence and uncertainty
Development projects are designed to address challenges that persist in developing contexts and to assist stakeholders in breaking through the forces that keep local systems trapped in unsustainable configurations.
Annual Reflection 2015
Mesopartner focuses this Annual Reflection on Territorial Economic Development (TED), which is back in the spotlight and is attracting increasing attention....
UNDP. 2022. How is Life: Micro-narratives on the impact of the Ukraine Crisis in the Republic of Moldova
UNDP. 2022. Digital Horizon. Moldova’s youth on the digital future they want to see, in their own words
Mesopartner Working Paper 06
Regional Value Chain Initiatives: An Opportunity for the Application of the PACA- Approach
Mesopartner Working Paper 05
The Hexagon of Local Economic Development and LED in South Africa
Mesopartner Working Paper 01
Participatory Appraisal of Competitive Advantage (PACA): Effectively Launching Local Economic Development Initiatives
Global Value Chains, systemic competitiveness and endogeneity - methodological notes and relevance to economic policy
...provided by the global value chain...
Smartes Land: Promotion of interdisciplinary innovation approaches in rural areas in the European Union and beyond
‘Smartes Land’ is the heading under which Mesopartner started to reflect on how to promote innovation orientation in rural areas in the European Union (EU) through multidisciplinary innovation promotion approaches.
Looking at discontinuous change through a systemic competitiveness lense
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is raising the awareness of global leaders about the expected societal changes as the Fourth Industrial Revolution expands.
Adaptive Management
Adaptive management Adaptive management has caused quite a buzz in development. At the same time, many practitioners, particularly those who have been around for a while, see it more as common sense…
Rethinking systemic change: economic evolution and institutions (Technical Paper)
In this work, we question the utility of the concept of systemic change in market systems development as it is currently used and suggest that we need a rethink. Systems continuously change and evolve, also without external development actors.
Meso organisations assessment framework
Meso organisations assessment framework
.jpg)
Calidena Toolbox
This toolbox is complementary to the Calidena Handbook 2.0 and differentiates between tools according to the phases of the process: ■ Preparatory tools ■ Workshop tools ■ Follow-up tools ■ Training tools Each tool is presented first in an overview table designed to provide a quick orientation, then followed by a more detailed description and a step-by-step guide to the pro- cedure.
Outcome Harvesting: a methodology to track change that is hard to measure
Development practitioners are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that their work is relevant and that it contributes to sustainably addressing key challenges. There are many different ways to capture and report achievements.
LED - An Overview
As part of it’s support for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation’s (SDC) employment and income (e+i) network, Marcus Jenal of Mesopartner contributed to the development of an overview of current thinking and practice in Local Economic Development (LED).
The Guiding Principle in SME Promotion
The Guiding principle in SME Promotion: Remedy Market Failure, Enable Markets
Compass Pocket Guide
The Compass of Local Competitiveness The Compass of Local Competitiveness Pocket Guide The Pocket Guide for Compass of Local Competitiveness is a…
Climate-neutral Cities: learning from inspiring implementation examples
A review of the Connective Cities/COVID-19 program's Climate-neutral Urban Development led by Mesopartner
Presencing in International Development
Cooperation
We live in a time of disruptive change. How to activate our capacity to lean into the emerging future may well be the most crucial leadership challenge of our time. How do you cultivate curiosity, compassion and courage in the face of prejudice, anger and fear?”
Local Economic Development - An overview
As part of it’s support for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation’s (SDC) employment and income (e+i) network, Marcus Jenal of Mesopartner contributed to the development of an overview of current thinking and practice in Local Economic Development (LED).
Assessing the Applicability of Private Sector Development Instruments in Agricultural Economic Development
The starting point of this GTZ paper is the observation that private sector development (PSD) and agricultural economic development (AED) have historically been two distinct approaches in development cooperation. Both looked at ways to promote productive development in developing countries.
GQII Global Quality Infrastructure Index 2020 Report
Quality Infrastructure provides a foundation for economic development Quality Infrastructure (QI) provides the necessary foundation for the economic development of any country. ...
Compass Flyer
The Compass of Local Competitiveness
Behind the Myth of the Mittelstand Economy
INEF Report. Project Meso-NRW. North Rhine-Westphalia: Structural Economic Change, Regional Economic and Locational Policy, Ecological Formulation of State Policy - A Survey from the Viewpoint of Advanced Developing Countries...
Responding to
the geography of discontent
Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, Professor of Regional Planning at the London School of Economics (LSE), has recently contributed to the public debate on the connection between populism and regions (Rodríguez-Pose, 2018).
Smart cities and smart rural areas: Digitisation is not the first priority
What constitutes the "smart" element of a space or a place? We argue that “smart” does not equal digitisation. But if "smart" is not necessarily associated with digital solutions, what does it mean then?
Case Study: Made in Saerbeck
“Made in Saerbeck” and not “Made in Germany” was a brand used by two companies involved in supplying renewable energy products in Germany to demonstrate their local heritage.
Territorial Development and the Great Transformation
In this interview (and videocast) we will be talking with Prof. Dr Dirk Messner about a question that has been keeping us busy for a while now: In our work, how can we promote a more sustainable and transformative way of territorial development, and what systemic perspectives.
Annual Reflection 2019
2019 has been a year of anniversaries for Mesopartner, some enjoyable and others sad. We have commemorated these anniversaries in different ways, which is reflected in the latest Annual Reflection 2019.
Annual Reflection 2020
We are living in a time of disruptive change. In early 2020 this again became very obvious. Covid-19 caught us by surprise. After we had selected various topics for the 2020 Annual Reflection and started writing articles, the pandemic ran riot over the world.
Annual Reflection 2021 - 2022
Covid-19 has thrown us out of rhythm. While we usually produce our Annual Reflection yearly, we took a break during the last two years. Adjusting our working mode and focusing on the new conditions during the pandemic, we discontinued some of our usual practices.
Regional Economic Potential Analysis
In 2006, mesopartner was commissioned by the European Union–Vietnam Private Sector Support Programme (EU-VPSSP) to develop a methodology for Regional Economic Potential Analysis and the supervision of its first application in the three provinces Hai Phong, Da Nang and Can Tho.…
Rapid Market Assessment of Responsible Tourism in Vietnam 2017
In order to assess the feasibility of a possible future project ‘Responsible Tourism and Competitiveness in Vietnam’ envisaged by the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) for funding, the ILO has commissioned the preparation of a rapid market assessment (RMA) of…
Mesopartner Working Paper 02
Rapid Appraisal of Local Innovation Systems (RALIS): Assessing and Enhancing Innovation Networks. Rapid Appraisal of Local Innovation Systems (RALIS) is a methodology to conduct a rapid diagnosis of a locality, a value chain or a cluster with a special focus at technology and…
The beauty of circular value chains
Both the value chain and the circular economy concept have their unique attractiveness. In the 2016 Annual Reflection we published the article From value chains to circular economic systems (Cunningham, Jenal & Harmes-Liedtke, 2016), where we argue that value chains often…
Participatory Appraisal of Competitive Advantage (PACA) Manual
The manual is complete handbook on how to conduct a Participatory Appraisal of Competitive Advantage (PACA) exercise in the context of Nepal.
Developing a locational policy that fits the context
The idea of developing the economy of a sub-national region is not new. For many, the development of the local economy is seen as an antidote to globalisation.
How to introduce LED as an approach to economic change in a country
Since it was established in 2003, Mesopartner has been involved in work related to Local Economic Development (LED).
Monitoring, evaluation and
learning (MEL) in economic
development
To become an effective change agent in dynamic systems, continuous learning and adjusting are essential. Interventions should not only be assessed retrospectively but continuously, so that they can be adapted on an ongoing basis.
Why ‘Market Systems Development’ is not the same as ‘Making Markets Work for the Poor’
Over the last few years, the term ‘Market Systems Development’ has gained quite some importance in the language of some international donors.
Planning or Doing Local Economic Development? Problems with the Orthodox approach to LED
This Africa Insight article interrogates the planning-driven approach to LED and contrasts it with an evolutionary approach.
Mesopartner Working Paper 03
The Hexagon of Local Economic Development. Local economic development (LED) has been done in industrialised countries for decades.
Mesopartner Working Paper 04
Why is Local Economic Development so difficult, and what can we do to make it more effective? LED is increasingly being propagated by donor agencies and governments in developing countries.
Mesopartner Working Paper 07
Governance and Territorial Development - Policy, Politics and Polity in Local Economic Development. There is an imbalance in the discussion around local economic development.
Twenty years of PACA – Retrospective reflections and opportunities for renewal
Twenty years ago, Dr Jörg Meyer-Stamer started writing the zero-draft manual of the rapid participatory approach under the title of Participatory Appraisal of Competitive Advantage (PACA) at an airport in southern Brazil.
LED and MSD: Differences and complementarities
In recent editions of the Annual Reflection, particularly in the 2015 Annual Reflection, we discussed Local Economic Development (LED) intensively. We have also occasionally discussed Market System Development (MSD).
Targeting resilience, not growth
Many international donor programmes have growth and employment as their prime objectives and performance targets. Impact-level indicators usually cover the number of full-time equivalent jobs created and net-attributable income change.
SDGs: Requirements for a more innovative and interdisciplinary promotion approach at the local level
In 2016, all 193 UN member states signed the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also named “Transformation Agenda 2030”. In contrast to its forerunner, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the SDGs not only focus on providing targets for developing countries but also…
Inspirational practices from East German Regional Growth Pole (RGP) experiences
During 2018 and 2019 we were asked by different regional governance and private sector development projects in the Ukraine and Peru to identify key procedures and learnings from regional growth pole (RGP) strategies and institution-building processes in East Germany.
Reimagining LRED in Lumbini Province
This booklet is about the accomplishments of the Local and Provincial Economic Development Programme (LPED) implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH from June 2019 to April 2023.
Implications of migration for territorial development
Migration is essential to human development and has contributed towards altering societies and economies for thousands of years.
Let’s reimagine place together
In November 2021, Mesopartner and a group of friends organised an online dialogue series. We invited a diverse group to jointly reimagine what we mean by “place” and how we approach this concept.
The system perspective on LED
Mesopartner has regularly been asked to support the introduction of Local Economic Development (LED) or strengthen LED as an economic development approach in a country (see AR 2018, Article 3: How to introduce LED as an approach to economic change in a country).
Resilience in economies
Resilience in economies What do we mean by resilience? Folke defines resilience as follows (Folke, 2016): Resilience is having the capacity to persist in the face of change, to continue to develop…
Explore, Scale Up, Move Out: Three Phases to Managing Change under Conditions of Uncertainty
Explore, Scale Up, Move Out: Three Phases to Managing Change under Conditions of Uncertainty IDS Bulletin.
Rethinking systemic change: economic evolution and institutions
Rethinking systemic change: economic evolution and institutions In this work, we question the utility of the concept of systemic change in market systems development as it is currently used and…
Mesopartner Working Paper 16
Gaining systemic insight to strengthen economic development initiatives. Drawing on systems thinking and complexity theories to improve developmental impact.
A process of search and discovery
A process of search and discovery One output of Mesopartner’s work in bringing theory and practice around complexity and development together is the Systemic Insight process logic.
Systemic Change: Evolving conditions that hold a situation in place
Systemic change: evolving conditions that hold a situation in place Under the Systemic Change research theme, we are researching, developing and applying concepts that help development practitioners…
Gaining Systemic Insight when facing complexity
Gaining Systemic Insight when facing complexity In our 2019 Annual Reflections we described the Systemic Insight process logic, a template for a process of search and discovery that we developed in…
The Relevance of Quality Infrastructure to Promote Innovation Systems in Developing Countries
What is the potential and the relevance of Quality Infrastructure (QI) for innovations in developing countries? The working group “Promoting Innovation Systems”, funded by the International Technical Cooperation PTB, is investigating this question, aiming at integrating the…
Quality Infrastructure enables the Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved
In 2015 the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which provides a framework for peace and prosperity for the planet and its people.
PTB Info Calidena Toolbox
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Braunschweig und Berlin National Metrology Institute Calidena Toolbox Support material for the Calidena Handbook 2.0 INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
Micronarratives of change and progress. Improving the quality of essential and vegetable oils in South Africa
This report describes a research survey focused on the micro-narratives of producers about their efforts to improve the quality of the essential and vegetable oils they produce.
Report on the first QI research workshop on 27 April 2023 at PTB in Berlin
Quality infrastructure as an emerging research field. The concept of quality infrastructure (QI) describes the system of metrology, standardization, accreditation, and conformity assessment, which contributes to the safety and quality of products and supports international…
Quality Infrastructure Rapid Diagnostic Tool - User Guide
Rapid Diagnostic Tool (RDT) is an instrument that helps quality infrastructure (QI) stakeholders and donor institutions assess the supply side of a QI ecosystem in a specific country.
Systemic Approaches to Quality Infrastructure - A comparative study between Germany and Mexico
Why compare the Mexican and German QI systems? As part of this endeavour, it is vital to under- stand the similarities and differences between the QI systems of different countries.
Indonesia's and Germany's QI Systems at a Glance: A Comparative Analysis
The publication "Indonesia's and Germany's QI Systems at a Glance: A Comparative Analysis” provides a detailed analysis of the Quality Infrastructure (QI) systems and laws of both countries.
Assessment of Malaysia's National Quality Infrastructure
The International Network on Quality Infrastructure, recently defined Quality Infrastructure (Ql) as: "the system comprising the organisations (public and private), policies, relevant legal and regulatory frameworks and practices required to support and improve the quality,…
National Quality Policy for Trinidad & Tobago 2018-2030
The Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (GORTT) herein presents its National Quality Policy (NQP).
Annual Reflection 2018
Mesopartner Annual Reflection 2018 In this annual reflection the reader will find discussions on the roles and relevance of meso organisations in the context of specific concepts, tools and insights…
Meso level, meso space and the relation to territories
Meso level, meso space and the relation to territories Even at the beginning of the 1990s, many scholars realised that competition between isolated firms, unconditional free trade, and the state as…
What and why meso organisations?
What and why meso organisations? The previous Article 1 explained the importance of the meso level to achieve competitive regions and sound economic development.
How to identify meso organisations
How to identify meso organisations Although it is quite easy to find enterprises in most locations and industries, it is sometimes harder to find meso organisations that provide key technological,…
Assessment of meso organisations for opportunities for improvement
Assessment of meso organisations for opportunities for improvement Meso organisations are established to promote economic development and improve competitiveness of a region by responding to a…
The role of the meso level in enabling economic evolution
The role of the meso level in enabling economic evolution In 2016 Mesopartner was commissioned by the BEAM Exchange to conduct research into what systemic change is and how it can be achieved in an…
Meso organisations need to be innovative and anticipate future trends
Meso organisations need to be innovative and anticipate future trends Meso organisations need to be innovative because their management style and creative use of resources infuses the system with…
Why do meso organisations struggle to change?
Why do meso organisations struggle to change? Markets and demands are changing constantly. Continuous structural change processes in industries, services and regions demonstrate the reality of…
The emergence of a meso space – Country Case Myanmar
The emergence of a meso space – Country Case Myanmar As is typical for a country such as Myanmar, which only started a transformation process in 2012 after decades of isolation, business…
Facilitation and change of meso organisations
Facilitation and change of meso organisations This article reflects on selected experiences gained from the project Competitive Regional Economic Development (CREDO) in Krajina, funded by the Swedish…
Typology of Regions and meso organisations
Typology of Regions and meso organisations The concept of the Typology of Regions was originally introduced in the Mesopartner Working Paper 10 which focuses on options and choices for designing a…
The role of meso organisations in the Product Space
The role of meso organisations in the Product Space During the last 10 years, a promising approach has emerged from the Centre for International Development (CID) at Harvard University and Macro…
Returning to basic principles: Common denominators of the AR2018_10 - Mesopartner and the EU smart specialization approaches
Returning to basic principles: Common denominators of the Mesopartner and the EU smart specialization approaches Common denominators between the Mesopartner philosophy and the smart specialisation…
Why should we work on the meta level, even if it’s difficult?
Why should we work on the meta level, even if it’s difficult? Systemic Competitiveness (SysCo) is a guiding framework for private sector development in the context of development cooperation.
Identifying the meso organisations that strengthen technological capability
Identifying the meso organisations that strengthen technological capability During the past year, Mesopartner has been working with the Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) and the…
Improving the resolution of the meso layer: a case study
Improving the resolution of the meso layer: a case study When working to improve the performance of any sector or value chain, we often find a range of meso organisations or programmes designed to…
A resilient meso space to enable an adaptive Systemic Competitiveness landscape
A resilient meso space to enable an adaptive Systemic Competitiveness landscape Over the past few years, Mesopartner has been working on different topics in its meso research theme.
Fostering dynamic entrepreneurial innovation ecosystems
Fostering dynamic entrepreneurial innovation ecosystems In the natural sciences, an ecosystem is understood as a system of interconnected elements, formed by a community of organisms interacting with…
Blog series: Building Technological Capability
Read 5 blog posts by Dr Shawn Cunningham on building technological capability
Unlocking knowledge in organisations to enable innovation
Although we know intuitively that knowledge is important for innovation, we often reduce this required ‘knowledge’ to highly technical concepts and specifications.
Blog series: Organisational knowledge and innovation
Read 3 blog posts by Dr Shawn Cunningham on knowledge and innovation
From promoting innovation systems to instigating innovation
We have been working on the promotion of innovation systems since the early days of Mesopartner.
Knowledge, Technologies and Innovation for Development in the Agenda 2030: Revisiting Germany's Contribution
A discussion paper by Dr Shawn Cunningham & Frank Waeltring was commissioned by the GIZ Sector project “Development Orientated Trade and Investment Policy and Promotion” on behalf of the BMZ.
Promotion of Technology and Innovation in the Context of “Sustainable Economic Development”
Technical assistance has a tendency to address technology and innovation in an implicit way, as something that is elementary in creating or strengthening productive sectors and services in latecomer countries.
Disruptive Technologies for Private Sector Development in the DRC
Mesopartner has supported the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to make sense of how they can use technology support to support their private sector development work.
Responding to technological change by promoting learning and skills upgrading in the economy
In Article 9 of this Annual Reflection, Strengthening technological capability, two important sub-systems at the meso level are mentioned.
Strengthening technological capability
This article is a summary of a research paper that Mesopartner was commissioned to write for Trade and Industry Policy Strategies (TIPS) on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry in South Africa.
Mapping the meso space that enables technological change, productivity improvement and innovation in the manufacturing sector
This paper focuses on meso organisations and policies that strengthen the technological capability of the country or industry to enable change, adaptation and economic resilience.
Promoting bottom-up industrial and innovation policy in developing countries
This article draws on our experience in promoting innovation systems in developing countries.
Modern Industrial Policy or Postmodern Industrial Policies?
Industrial policy is a multidimensional term combining a number of different policy fields at a number of levels. As a result, political control suffers.
Green territorial economic development: promoting more sustainable solutions
Since the Rio+20 Conference in 2012, Green Economic Development became an increasingly prominent topic in both less and more developed countries.
Eco-system services and territorial competitiveness
The traditional approach to competitiveness is based on labour or capital productivity (Porter, 1989). Given the over-exploitation of natural resources, today we can observe a changing basis of competitive advantage (Von Weizsäcker, De Larderel, Hargroves et al., 2014).
From value chains to circular economic systems
While value chains and product networks are often optimised for efficiency at the levels of products, firms and transactions, the overall systems they form part of may not be optimally efficient from a resource utilisation perspective.
What exactly is green economic development
In the context of this publication, our understanding of green economic development is that it is a means of maintaining competitiveness or even striving for increased competitiveness by selected sectors or the whole economy at national or sub-national level in times of climate…
Competing priorities: trade-offs between "green" and other topics
Different development programmes have different priorities and goals. Some promote economic development, competitiveness and growth. Some promote green economic development.
Green economic development as an evolutionary process
To understand how to influence economic development in a territory to make it “greener”, one needs to appreciate how change happens in the economy in general.
Shaping a climate smart and eco-friendly business environment
Adjusting the business environment of a country or territory to the new realities of climate change and environmental degradation is complex.
Bottom-up industrial policy at territorial level
We are being increasingly approached to assist cities and large towns with bottom-up innovation and industrial policies in developing countries.
The meta level of greening territorial economies in times of climate change
The transformation to a green economy is more than a purely technical issue. It requires a shift in the mindset of people in very different societies around the globe.
Can standards help developing countries phase into a green economy
Climate change and planetary boundaries are global challenges, which require that all countries recognise the need to transform their economies and take action.
Driving forces for greening urban and rural locations in the EU
There are many efforts at present all around the world to “green” rural locations and cities. Entry points are manifold, and the driving forces often differ in more and less developed countries.
Innovation requirements of a climate-smart location
Innovation requirements of a climate-smart location
Annual Reflection 2016
We have dedicated our annual flagship publication to a topic that is high on the development agenda and which will increasingly gain more relevance and importance, namely green economic development.
Circular Territorial Development
Looking at the inefficient and polluting way that energy is produced and used worldwide, it becomes apparent that we are still following the linear economic development model of “take, make, use, lose” (Raworth, 2017).
Trends and requirements of the green transition of SMES in metal and wood processing sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The need for the transformation towards greener and more inclusive and innovative industrial production is high on the agenda worldwide, especially so in the Western Balkans and the European Union.
The Great Sustainability Transformation and Mesopartner's role
The global fossil fuel-based economic growth and the mass consumption model has pushed us to the edge of planetary boundaries. The concept of planetary boundaries was developed by world-class scientists and Nobel laureates in 2009 (Rockström et al., 2009).
RACCA Flyer
Information Flyer on the methodology RACCA for rapid appraisals of climate-sensitive city initiatives. A Climate-sensitive approach for city development.
Mesopartner Working Paper 08
How to promote clusters
Mesopartner Working Paper 09
Benchmarking Territorial Competitiveness. Competitiveness is a concept and a reality that is rapidly spreading throughout the world.
Mesopartner Working Paper 10
Designing a Regional Development Agency: Options and Choices. The purpose of this paper is a practical one, we decided to go for an deductive approach, i.e. take proven concepts of economic and territorial development and outline the key choices, trade-offs and dilemmas involved.
Mesopartner Working Paper 11
The Local Business Environment and Local Economic Development: Comparing Approaches. Recent years have seen an increasing effort in developing and transformation countries to improve the business environment.
Mesopartner Working Paper 13
Addressing Red Tape at the Local Level: Options and Tools. Addressing red tape is an important building block of a local economic development (LED) initiative.
Mesopartner Working Paper 14
Systemic Competitiveness Revisited - Conclusions for Technical Assistance in Private Sector Development. This paper is organised as follows. Section 2 gives an overview of the evolution, key elements and underlying concepts of Systemic Competitiveness.
Mesopartner Working Paper 15
Revisiting the Hexagon of LED as a framework to strengthen LED initiatives. This document is targeted to trainers and facilitators that use the Hexagon of Local Economic Development (LED) to introduce LED concepts during training events.
Framing the concepts that underpin discontinuous technological change
The paper takes the form of a literature study on the topic of technological change, innovation and building technological capabilities.
World Economic Forum and the fourth industrial revolution in South Africa
This paper focuses on the fourth industrial revolution and the concept as promoted by the World Economic Forum, international consultancies, governments and multinational firms.
Is the Fourth Industrial Revolution a Paradigm Shift?
As economic development practitioners, we often wonder how emerging technological and social changes might affect the people we work with. How will new technologies affect the regions and value chains we work with?
Building the technological intelligence of industries and supporting organisations
Like the economies of many developing and middle-income countries, the South African economy has a fair share of innovators and globally competitive firms in many different sectors.
How societies learn and build competencies
Have you ever wondered why some companies, industries or even places appear to be more able to innovate and harness new knowledge, while others are lagging or stagnant?
Annual Reflection 2017
In this year’s Annual Reflection, we deliberate on the significance and relevance of the meso level and meso policy options as a vehicle and lever for stimulating economic activities and strengthening enterprises at the micro level.
The Impact of Quality Infrastructure on Global Value Chain participation
The Impact of Quality Infrastructure on Global Value Chain participation Sustainable development involves the strengthening of local firms. The continuous improvement in processes, products and functions to increase value added, that the literature and the policy practice have called firms’ upgrading, is absolutely essential for emerging economies to compete sustainably in global markets.
%20Transition.jpg){kind=spacer}
Just (Energy) Transition as an interdisciplinary transformation challenge: Learning from the German experience
Just (Energy) Transition as an interdisciplinary transformation challenge: Learning from the German experience The Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) commissioned Mesopartner PartG to summarize Germany’s Just Transition experience focusing on economic structural change and coal phase-out in selected regions of Germany.