ABSTRACT
The new breed of globalization for developing countries must be at their own pace and on their own terms, with capabilities and freedoms at the core. The pandemic has hit developing countries on the eve of almost four decades of experimentation with trade and investment-driven globalization. This chapter begins by characterizing the developing economies on the eve of the pandemic. Many aspects of life remain significantly altered and will remain heavily reliant on the Internet for some time due to social distancing. Hence, access to digital technologies plays a vital role in minimizing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The most often claimed return to globalization has been the remarkable turnaround in gross domestic product growth observed in the developing world. The differences in national innovation systems across the developed and developing world are stark, which in turn plays a crucial role in governing economic performance, especially in times of crisis.
