Reports

Social innovations have proven to be valuable in identifying, designing and implementing new solutions to social and environmental problems. The recent COVID-19 outbreak has put a spotlight on the potential of social innovation as a resilience mechanism, including for local development. This paper presents a preliminary framework for analysing social innovation ecosystems at the local level. It can help policy makers to better understand the different concepts around social innovation, and to develop policies to support social innovation and its implementation. The first section considers the features of social innovation and the benefits it can bring. The second section provides an analytical framework for social innovation at the local level. The final section sets a number of guidelines that support the implementation of social innovation ecosystems at local level, including examples of specific policy instruments.

The OECD Global Action 'Promoting Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems', funded by the European Union, through its work stream on social impact measurement, endeavours to: 1) explore current social impact measurement practices among social and solidarity economy organisations; 2) identify the methodologies best suited to capture the social benefits of the social and solidarity economy; and 3) understand what policy initiatives can be used to foster a social impact measurement culture and practice in the social and solidarity economy. After discussing the origins and drivers of social impact measurement, this paper examines existing methodologies developed at the local, national and international level and finally reviews how these are being implemented in the social and solidarity economy. It takes stock of the policy mapping exercise conducted by the OECD, which draws on responses to an online survey and on the stakeholder consultations conducted in Brazil, Canada, India, Korea, Mexico and the United States.

This paper provides new evidence on the role of intangible capital in global value chains (GVCs) by focusing on the role of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and their foreign affiliates in value capture through intangible assets. Industry-level data suggest that foreign affiliates of MNEs generate more income through intangible capital than domestic-owned firms. Intangible returns from foreign affiliates are found both in the host economy and in foreign-owned firms in other countries participating in the GVC. Some heterogeneity is observed across GVCs with returns to intangible capital of foreign-owned firms concentrated in key manufacturing (chemicals including pharmaceuticals, food products, ICT and electronics, and motor vehicles) and services GVCs (finance and insurance, other business services, wholesale and retail, and telecoms). Five case studies (Adidas, AstraZeneca, Rocket Internet, Starbucks and Tata Consultancy Services) complement the analysis by looking at the role of intangible capital in the GVC of specific MNEs.

The G20 Rome guidelines for the future of tourism identifies key issues and opportunities to rethink and reshape tourism policy in response to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. It presents guidelines for action that are informed by the need to a) restore confidence and enable recovery, b) learn from the experience of the pandemic, and c) prioritise a sustainable development agenda in guiding future tourism. They are based around seven interrelated policy areas: i) safe mobility, ii) crisis management; iii) resilience; iv) inclusiveness; v) green transformation; vi) digital transition; and vii) investment and infrastructure. The G20 Rome guidelines were endorsed in the Rome Communiqué of the 2021 G20 Tourism Ministers’ meeting.

The COVID-19 crisis has provided an opportunity to rethink the Veneto Region’s economic strategy. This paper examines the links between cultural and creative sectors and the regional manufacturing economy of the Veneto Region in the North of Italy, highlighting the important role that cultural production, and in particular Venice, can play in the region’s post-pandemic recovery strategies.

This paper addresses the current and emerging uses and impacts of robots, the mid-term future of robotics and the role of policy. Progress in robotics will help to make life easier, richer and healthier. Wider robot use will help raise labour productivity. As science and engineering progress, robots will become more central to crisis response, from helping combat infectious diseases to maintaining critical infrastructure. Governments can accelerate and orient the development and uptake of socially valuable robots, for instance by: supporting cross-disciplinary R&D, facilitating research commercialisation, helping small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) understand the opportunities for investment in robots, supporting platforms that highlight robot solutions in healthcare and other sectors, embedding robotics engineering in high school curricula, tailoring training for workers with vocational-level mechanical skills, supporting data development useful to robotics, ensuring flexible regulation conducive to innovation, strengthening digital connectivity, and raising awareness of the importance of robotics.