Innovation plays a pivotal role in economic development: this is a key lesson of the past decades. The build-up of innovation capacities has been central to successful growth experiences. Emerging and developing countries have recognised that innovation is not just about high-technology products, but that innovation capacity has to be built into the early stages of the development process to gain the learning capacities that will allow “catch-up” to occur. The adoption of foreign technology requires adaptation to the local context, which in turn implies incremental innovation. These countries also need innovation capacity to address developmental challenges specific to their local contexts, such as providing access to drinking water or eradicating neglected diseases.