International cooperation on innovation policies in the digital age

National innovation policies, like other government policies, serve domestic policy objectives. As discussed in Section C, they can generate both positive and negative international spill-over effects, and some of the mechanisms through which they generate spillovers involve trade. This section focuses on cooperation aimed at addressing the trade-related international spill-overs from innovation policies. Such cooperation could help to ensure that governments have the policy space to pursue innovation policies, and could help to maximize the positive international spill-overs of such policies, while minimizing their negative effects on trading partners.