Mapping research and innovation in the Kingdom of Cambodia

Since the nineties, Cambodia has undergone a remarkable process of recovery and transformation, building one of the fastest growing economy in the world. The country has also become one of the world’s leading countries in poverty reduction thanks to this rapid and sustained economic growth.

Convinced of the driving force of science, technology and innovation (STI) for development, the government is strongly committed to investing in STI and enhancing the STI system, putting in place the necessary policy frameworks to support the sustainable development agenda by 2030. This will lead to strengthening the STI system and increasing the STI human capital in Cambodia, among others, with researchers counting only 51.16 per million inhabitants in 2015, 23.7% of which were female.

To accompany this effort and provide insights on the ongoing processes, UNESCO has analysed the country’s STI ecosystem and has proposed a set of recommendations to the government of Cambodia, presented in this report. These recommendations encourage choices that harness research, development and innovation to achieve the national goals.

Ministries, policy makers, planners, academia and private sector are all invited to implement the recommendations of this report and use the information gathered to guide their actions and investments in this field.