This book was produced in an environment of uncertainty and constantly changing narratives about COVID-19 and its effects. From a narrative of survival in 2020 to contain the spread of the virus with a central role of government leadership, evidence-informed decisions, solidarity and a scientific race to develop a vaccine taking the central stage; to a later narrative in 2021 focused on socio-economic recovery, building back better, managing vaccine inequalities and visions and proposals for post-COVID societies.

In 2022, we have seen a move to a narrative of post-pandemic (rather than post-COVID-19) and “learning to live with the virus” with societies in the global South learning to navigate the harsh economic realities by looking at opportunities emerging in the digital and regional spaces. The production of this book embeds some of these dominant narratives in different chapters, as they were developed over such unstable ground.

This experience has put a spotlight on the importance of innovative solutions, and the role of public sector, raising a new interest in governance systems and structures, and ways to strengthen governance overall. The pandemic has propelled countries across the world to innovate and develop more resilient systems and strategies that will enable us to gain the capacity to tackle complex challenges we face today and those that will come.

We hope this book helps us extract some valuable lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. After all, learning from a crisis may well be our best way to prepare for the future.

This book argues that renewable electrification in developing countries provides important opportunities for local economic development, but new pathways are required for turning these opportunities into successful reality. Building Innovation Capabilities for Sustainable Industrialisation offers a novel input into the debate on development of capabilities for sustainable industrialisation and delivers key insights for both researchers and policy makers when it comes to the question of how to increase the economic co-benefits of renewables expansion. The chapters in the book use a tailored analytical framework in their studies of renewable electrification efforts in Kenya and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. They draw on a mix of project, sector and country level case studies to address questions such as: What capabilities are developed through on-going renewable electrification projects in developing economies? How can the expansion of renewable electrification be supported in a way that also encourages sustainable economic development? What role do international linkages (South-South and North-South) play and what role should they play in the greening of energy systems in developing economies? The authors provide a new understanding of how green transformation and sustainable industrialisation can be combined, highlighting the opportunities and constraints for local capability building and the scope for local policy action. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of development studies, energy studies, sustainability and sustainable development, as well as practitioners and policy makers working in development organisations and national governments. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003054665, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book argues that renewable electrification in developing countries provides important opportunities for local economic development, but new pathways are required for turning these opportunities into successful reality. Building Innovation Capabilities for Sustainable Industrialisation offers a novel input into the debate on development of capabilities for sustainable industrialisation and delivers key insights for both researchers and policy makers when it comes to the question of how to increase the economic co-benefits of renewables expansion. The chapters in the book use a tailored analytical framework in their studies of renewable electrification efforts in Kenya and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. They draw on a mix of project, sector and country level case studies to address questions such as: What capabilities are developed through on-going renewable electrification projects in developing economies? How can the expansion of renewable electrification be supported in a way that also encourages sustainable economic development? What role do international linkages (South-South and North-South) play and what role should they play in the greening of energy systems in developing economies? The authors provide a new understanding of how green transformation and sustainable industrialisation can be combined, highlighting the opportunities and constraints for local capability building and the scope for local policy action. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of development studies, energy studies, sustainability and sustainable development, as well as practitioners and policy makers working in development organisations and national governments. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003054665, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.