The Ateneo School of Government, with the International Development Research Centre, is implementing a project entitled Science and Technology Innovations for the Base of the Pyramid in Southeast Asia. By building partnerships with and among research councils, government agencies, business institutions, and other relevant organizations in the region, the Project aims to create and promote an environment that will encourage science and technology (S&T) innovations that respond to the development needs of the marginalized base of the pyramid (BoP) sector in the region.

The overall objective of the project is to foster S&T innovations that can effectively address the development needs of the poor and excluded in the region. Ultimately, the effort should contribute towards affordable solutions in areas that address the unmet needs, increase productivity and incomes, while at the same time facilitating the BoP’s participation in wider economic systems.

Specifically, the Project would like to:

1. Develop an open platform for information-sharing and learning in order to foster close linkages among researchers, and between them and other innovation system actors in the region, for example, small-scale farmers, livestock herders, small traders, development partners, the private sector, etc.;
2. Build the capacity for research on pro-poor S&T innovations among research councils and their network of organizations;
3. Focus the attention of policymakers and other stakeholders on the needs of the poor and the role that S&T can play in addressing them and contribute to the development of policy and governance tools that effectively incorporate S&T innovations into decision-making by countries in the region; and
4. Identify and document successful stories of pro-poor innovations with the view of replicating them in other countries of the region 

The Project is expected to generate, through research, a body of evidence that could aid Southeast Asian countries in developing and implementing effective policies for promoting pro-poor innovations in the region.