In early October, INET Oxford Executive Director Eric Beinhocker was a speaker at the Bhutan Innovation Forum, a meeting of Bhutanese officials and international experts convened by His Majesty the King of Bhutan. Bhutan, a small country in the Himalayas between India and China, is in many ways a development success story. It is one of only seven countries to graduate from the UN’s Least Developed Country (LDC) status and is the only country on Earth that is carbon negative, with most of its energy needs met by clean hydro power and over two-thirds of its land area preserved as forest. And its development model has focused on the wellbeing of its population, famously guided by its measure of Gross National Happiness (GNH) instead of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Innovation Forum was established to discuss and debate ideas for Bhutan’s next stage of development. Issues included: How can Bhutan create opportunities for young, educated members of its population, many of whom have been moving abroad? How can Bhutan continue to grow energy provision to its population and energy exports while maintaining its negative emissions status? How can Bhutan expand sectors such as tourism while preserving it environment and culture which make it such an attractive place to visit? And how can Bhutan attract foreign capital in ways that are consistent with its values? Bhutan is also looking at innovative ideas such as establishing a city in its south, Gelephu, as a special economic zone for development, and emphasising its Buddhist culture, is calling it the “Mindfulness City”.

Beinhocker was on a panel, “A Mindful Economy and Shared Prosperity” that discussed how Bhutan should resist pressures to pursue unsustainable models of development, that a better model is possible, and should continue to innovate and chart its own path. Videos of the event are available online and in the below (Beinhocker’s remarks start at 9:07).



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