Modelling PPP Directed Towards Accelerated Growth of the ICT Sector

Martin Labbé

Advisor, Online Marketing & Digital Networks

The TRTA Perspective

ITC in a nutshell

Role Models to Follow

(or at least to get inspired by)

Examples of Successful PPP: the Malaysia Incorporated Concept

The 1983 Malaysia Incorporated Concept is that the nation is a corporate or business entity, jointly owned by both the private and public sectors who are working in pursuit of shared goals.

Under the Malaysia Incorporated Concept, the public sector was required to redefine its role in relation to business activities and to embark on new approaches to facilitating the private sector’s role in spearheading economic development.

Establishment of consultative panels in each Ministry/agency Designation of senior officials as focal pointsOrganization of regular meetings with the private sector

Examples of Successful PPP in India

Support to technology clusters: 7 centres of excellence (IIT and IIM) have been set up to bring closer public research structures and private R&D, universities and corporations.

> Same approach in a recent paper prepared by the French Finance Ministry to foster innovation through more systematic PPPs in R&D

Examples of Successful PPP in Egypt

Egypt’s Smart Village: a technology park destined to attract private investors, in particular from abroard.

Egypt’s Ministry of ICT provided 20 acres of land (20% of the cost) and a private consortium financed the remaining 80%.

(the Andhra Pradesh IT Corridor project is built around the same approach)

Generating Growth by Usage through PPPs in Ghana and Côte d’IvoirePPP legal framework projects in Ghana, in Côte d’Ivoire…

In Ghana, PPP is to encourage and promote indigenous Ghanaian private sector participation in the delivery of public infrastructure and services.

In Côte d’Ivoire, PPP projects cover the water and sanitation, energy/electricity, road infrastructure and industry sectors.

Can PPPs Contribute to more Successful ICT4D Projects?

PPPs to Reach the MDGs

Click icon to add pictureTarget 8.F: In cooperation with the private sector, make available benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

ICT4D projects referring to MDG8 and building on PPPs

… actually, «multistakeholder partnerships» could be an alternative way to call them (WSIS context)

Generating ICT Growth by Usage through PPP (or MSP) in BangladeshThe ICT sector grows when its services are used by the largest number of people

PPP faciliated by an NGO, Katalyst

Give Bangladeshi farmers access to business information through online & mobile channels

PPPs: How They Work, and Don’t

Sharing Good Practices in PPPs at ITC’s 2012 WEDF

Governments are attracting private financing for projects by establishing a predictable legal and regulatory framework including for dispute settlement, and by proper identification of projects which are: needs based, financially and economically sound, while also viable technically and environmentally.

Projects should be awarded transparently through a competitive process.

Financial guarantees reduce risk exposure of both the contracting agency and the private sector counterpart.

There are increasing instances of government grants for socially desirable projects.

There is a limited role for unsolicited proposals. These are considered only if they involve a new concept and technology that only one company may be able to provide (see process at Public-Private Partnership Centre of the Philippines)

What Slows Down PPPs in the ICT Sector?

1. Fear! Civil servants who are not tech savvy will feel uncomfortable

2. Unclear definition of the project scope

3. Wrong upfront costing

4. Political instability.

5. Lack of endorsement of the PPP by its beneficiaries.

Any Downsides to PPP?

• Bureaucratic burden on partners, which can be costly

• PPP becomes an end in itself (EU support programmes as FP8 /Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development have partnerships as a pre-requisit – albeit not only PPP; the Eureka programme does, between corporations, member states and the European Commission)

• Interests of the Private and Public Sector do not always coincide

• Do they deliver?

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Thank you!

labbe@intracen.org

Dream scenario?

Li spent almost a decade working at Stanford and the University of Washington, returning to China in 2002. The opportunities back home for a young scientist, he tells me, were impossible to turn down. In addition to creating the stem-cell center for his team, the university also set up SinoCells Biotechnologies, a public-private partnership intended to commercialize Li's research.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.01/cloning_pr.html

Deploy Next-Generation Broadband: Encourage Public/Private Partnerships: Obama will encourage innovation at the local level through federal support of public/private partnerships that deliver real broadband to communities that currently lack it.

Modernize Public Safety Networks: Use the authority over spectrum licenses to establish an effective public-private partnership that would facilitate the development of a next generation network for use by public safety agencies on a priority

basis.

A Framework for PPP Success in ICTs

Setting a Framework in Place to Encourage PPPs in the ICT Sector

Support to startups: the «Startup America» programme promotes PPP with Venture Capitalists, so that the «Early Stage Innovation Fund»

Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) has public R&D funds earmarked for SMEs, with a strong PPP characteristic

French Research Recommends PPPs in R&D to Foster InnovationEncourage partnerships between French technology firms using a PPP platform on specific ICT projects, such as the interoperability of contactless transport passes

Focus on PPP between universities/institutes and private sector