Abstract: The special issue, Rethinking Innovation and Development Discourses in the Light of COVID-19’ co-edited by Dr. Fayaz Ahmad Sheikh from Zhejiang University International Business School together with Prof. Xiaobo Wu, Dean of the School of Social Science Zhejiang University is published online by Sage’s Journal ‘Science Technology and Society’. This special issue empirically explores innovation, development and relevant policy for a post-COVID-19 world. This special issue explores under-researched areas of innovation policy; alternative, equitable, sustainable and inclusive development and innovation pathways. Papers delineating the roles of alternative innovation models and secondary innovations amid COVID-19 are included. Conceptual papers and provocative essays offering new perspectives on the roles of governments and mission-oriented innovation policy in combatting crises such as COVID-19 are featured as well. The special issue consists of five full-length papers authored by professors affiliated with Harvard, Oxford, and Zhejiang University. It also includes a guest column by Nobel Laureate 2006, Prof. Muhammad Yunus, and a comprehensive think piece by Prof. Bengt-Åke Lundvall.