Innovative financing for development in Lebanon

Abstract

This study aims to explain the innovation financing for development in Lebanon, which is a country in the Middle East region, facing a lot of economic and financial problems since 1990. Lebanon is an open economy driven by financial services, construction, and tourism. Since its independence, Lebanon has positioned itself as a service economy open to foreign investment and trade. Development finance, including both domestic and external sources, responds to the country’s challenges transition and the wealthy expats and entrepreneurs provide large amounts of remittances and foreign direct investment to support consumption and expand real investment. Lebanon’s development has historically been non-linear, and more recently the financial crisis which Lebanon have never seen before. It negatively affected the path of development in the country. The present study highlights the role of external financing in the supporting public goods and deriving recommendations for adapting development assistance to these benefits contexts in addition of the framework for a National Innovation System (NIS) in Lebanon and suggest an innovation policy mix allowing Lebanon to efficiently manage the innovation activities, integrate technological and market changes and join the knowledge era with the aim of securing sustainable economic growth and social prosperity in a highly risky, uncertain and challenging environment