Innovative PPP model key to sustainable development: Mayaram

Former Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram today said the role of innovative and creative public-private partnership (PPP) is critical to ensure sustainable development.
Mayaram, who was part of a panel here at a conference on Competition, Regulation and Development Conference organised by CUTS International and OECD.
The panel on the concluding day of the three-day conference opined that interests of researchers must align with the societal aspirations to bring coherence to have policy and effective PPP design.
The panel pitched for devising a collaborative trade policy and also recommended innovation in contract design for PPP by bundling services and technology to reduce redundancy and inefficiencies and the need for flexibility in designing long-term PPP contracts.

Earlier, former Competition Commission member Geeta Gouri talked about IPR and competition and equitable economic growth. She said there is a need to protect the competition framework rather than competitors.
She also mentioned turf war among regulators, saying this vitiates the regulatory environment.

Nitin Desai, Former Under Secretary General, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, said there is lack of evidence on impact of intellectual property on productivity growth and spending on research and development.
He said that the number of patents does not constitute a measure of innovation and big breakthroughs in development have come through competition and not through intellectual property.

Patent protection is becoming an instrument for corporate warfare, Desai said.
Isabelle Durant, Deputy Secretary General, UNCTAD and Former Deputy Prime Minister, Belgium, mentioned that new digital technologies have created immense benefits for consumers.
Durant further said that, however, without optimal governance and regulation, dealing with such issues can be challenging as they deal with topics like data protection and privacy.
He said that developing countries have to deal with additional constraints such as lack of capacity, access to finance, weak infrastructure, poor research and development and ineffective policy frameworks.