PEP conferences are global gatherings that unite development researchers, practitioners, leading experts, and policy stakeholders to tackle pressing issues in economic policy. These annual events offer a unique opportunity to experience the co-created research and policy analysis supported by PEP, showcasing collaboration between scientists, policymakers, and other key actors.
PEP is excited to host the 2026 Annual Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, a leading hub for technological, institutional, and social innovation in Africa. This year’s conference will feature a Policy Conference on 12 June, along with peer review and training sessions for PEP researchers. Organised as part of multiple research programs, the conference will provide a platform for collaboration, knowledge exchange, and policy engagement.
This year's conference is organised as part of five ongoing programmes:
The event will also convene an inception meeting for a new programme on What Works for Young Women and Marginalized Youth: Review of Inclusive Youth Employment Policies & Interventions in Africa in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.
PEP meetings represent a unique opportunity in terms of peer-review and international networking experience for all participants, especially researchers from low-income countries.
Representatives of 37 research projects from 18 countries (sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia) will present their research results and project outcomes for discussion with peers and international experts. Project teams supported under some specific programmes will also receive technical training to support their research and policy outreach.
Policy Conference | 12 June
Rethinking the Future of Innovation: What It Takes for Systems to Deliver in the Global South
PEP conferences feature a one-day Policy Conference to present and discuss the policy implications of PEP research. These events are thematically focused on current or emerging development policy issues.
In 2026, the Policy Conference will focus on innovation as a development imperative for the Global South. Innovation is no longer optional — it is the fault line shaping development futures across the Global South. Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, confronts overlapping shocks: economic volatility, climate disruption, demographic surges, and technological upheaval. In this landscape, innovation capacity is not just a determinant of growth, but the lever that decides whether societies generate jobs, diversify production, strengthen state capability, and withstand crises. Decades of Nobel-recognized research remind us that prosperity emerges not from isolated breakthroughs, but from continuous waves of innovation — waves that depend on institutions able to diffuse ideas, adapt technologies, and sustain resilience. This year’s conference asks: how can African and Southern economies harness innovation as both imperative and opportunity in charting their development trajectories?
This year’s conference will explore two broad thematic segments across the day, moving from diagnosis to action:
Providing an opportunity for international academic and governmental participants to debate the issues at hand, these conferences help bridge the gap between research and policy to address poverty issues and promote development.
For wider impact after the conference, we will publish the main lessons and recommendations drawn from these dialogues. Explore the outcomes from previous Policy Conferences.
We will also stream the event on our YouTube channelfrom 9 a.m. UTC+3.
From 9 a.m. EAT
Innovation Beyond Technology: Why Innovation Systems Struggle — and why it matters now
Innovation is often framed as a technology challenge, yet in the Global South it is skills, institutions, and delivery systems that most limit impact. This session draws on Southern-led evidence to examine why innovation systems struggle to scale, and what policy reforms are needed to make them deliver.
The panel will explore why innovation efforts often succeed in pilots but fail to scale or persist. Topics will include skills gaps, behavioural constraints, and unequal participation; public-sector capability and incentives; and gender, youth, and informal-sector exclusion.
12:45 p.m. | Lunch
From 2:00 p.m. EAT
Innovation-in-Practice Simulation
This interactive session translates the day’s discussions into applied policy problem-solving. Participants will be organised into small, mixed groups, bringing together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to ensure diverse perspectives.
Each group will work through a structured, fictional but realistic innovation-policy scenario reflecting common constraints in low- and middle-income contexts, including limited fiscal space, institutional capacity gaps, coordination failures, and uneven access to evidence.
Passport holders from the following EAC countries are exempted from applying for an eTA: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
A Greener Conference
PEP has taken the following steps to reduce the environmental impact of this conference:
Greatly reduced printing (replaced by digital supports)
Distance participation for non-attending researchers via session livestreaming/recording
