Enhancing Innovation in South Africa: The COFISA Experience (original) (raw)
Related papers
2016
General rights Unless other specific re-use rights are stated the following general rights apply: Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. 2016 STIAS-WAllenberg roundTAble on InnovATIon for proSperITy page 5 AbouT The AuThorS STIAS would like to acknowledge the support of vinnova, creST and SciSTIp. Sara grobbelaar is a Senior lecturer in the department of Industrial engineering at Stellenbosch university (Su). She also has part-time appointments at the department of engineering and Technology Management at the university of pretoria and the centre for research on evaluation, Science and Technology (creST), Su. prior to returning to academia Sara had a longstanding career in consulting at Monitor group, frost & Sullivan and independently. Sara has successfully completed in excess of 35 consulting engagements in the government, higher education, not-for-profi t and private sectors. clients and assignments include projects commissioned by the World bank and united nations. She has also been commissioned as an innovation systems and evaluation expert by the national Advisory council of South Africa. Sara has an Mphil in Technology policy (with distinction) from the university of cambridge. She also holds a beng (electronic) (with distinction) (university of pretoria [up]), Meng (computer) (with distinction) (up), phd in (engineering) (up) and a post graduate diploma in M&e methods (with distinction) (Su). Sara's research interests and passions are to think about, research and develop plans for inclusive development through pro-poor value chains and inclusive innovation systems for the African continent. Sara has a keen interest in research uptake and impact assessment, systems analysis, systems thinking, strategy, technology management and innovation .
South African Science, Technology and Innovation Scoreboard 2008
2008
This publication reviews the South African system of innovation, at a national level, and at a provincial level from the perspective of three provinces (Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Gauteng) and utilising data up to the year 2008. It is presented as a work in progress, which will benefit from identification of additional research and data. Underpinning this is an ambition to deepen understanding about the concepts underlying systems of innovation approach and provide a concise summary of available data with which to evaluate these concepts. The scoreboard comprises five parts. Indicators in each part are introduced with a brief overview of significant trends and features. Methods and sources used to derive each indicator are also reported further interrogation. The systems of innovation approach highlights relationships among political economic systems that facilitate and/or hinder innovation. The approach has been widely adopted as a means to monitor and evaluate economies’ innovative performance and policies. A range of methodologies have been established for various indicators of an innovation system’s performance and these are referred to throughout. This report pulls together these internationally accepted methodologies in order to create a nuanced reflection on the performances of South African innovation systems. However, it is worth emphasising that we are reporting a scoreboard that is under constant refinement locally and internationally.
Realising innovation opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa
2016
General rights Unless other specific re-use rights are stated the following general rights apply: Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. 2016 STIAS-WAllenberg roundTAble on InnovATIon for proSperITy page 5 AbouT The AuThorS STIAS would like to acknowledge the support of vinnova, creST and SciSTIp. Sara grobbelaar is a Senior lecturer in the department of Industrial engineering at Stellenbosch university (Su). She also has part-time appointments at the department of engineering and Technology Management at the university of pretoria and the centre for research on evaluation, Science and Technology (creST), Su. prior to returning to academia Sara had a longstanding career in consulting at Monitor group, frost & Sullivan and independently. Sara has successfully completed in excess of 35 consulting engagements in the government, higher education, not-for-profi t and private sectors. clients and assignments include projects commissioned by the World bank and united nations. She has also been commissioned as an innovation systems and evaluation expert by the national Advisory council of South Africa. Sara has an Mphil in Technology policy (with distinction) from the university of cambridge. She also holds a beng (electronic) (with distinction) (university of pretoria [up]), Meng (computer) (with distinction) (up), phd in (engineering) (up) and a post graduate diploma in M&e methods (with distinction) (Su). Sara's research interests and passions are to think about, research and develop plans for inclusive development through pro-poor value chains and inclusive innovation systems for the African continent. Sara has a keen interest in research uptake and impact assessment, systems analysis, systems thinking, strategy, technology management and innovation .
Innovation in a changing South Africa: extant debates and critical reflections
2019
Economic and social imperatives of innovation are increasingly becoming intertwined and important, especially in the global South. While South Africa has a nucleus of innovating enterprises, key challenges with respect to poverty and underdevelopment remain. During recent decades, South Africa has experienced a marked decline in the traditional and employment-intensive sectors along with growth in service sectors. However, growth in low-productivity service sectors accounts for most employment growth. It is noted that regional innovation networks are scarce and predominantly found in major cities. A decline in the traditional employment-intensive and largely rural-based sectors of mining and agriculture, along with attempts to redress the socio-economic consequences of apartheid, resulted in a policy emphasis on innovation in distressed rural areas to enhance local economic development and public service delivery. It is concluded that skewed spatial patterns of innovation, as well a...
African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 2016
Inclusive innovation refers to the improvement of living conditions and creation of employment opportunities for the poor through the development or co-creation of new products, services, processes and business models aimed at resource poor communities. Based on an empirical study of 15 university-led inclusive innovation projects in the Western Cape Province in South Africa, using an inductive approach we apply an analytical framework that serves two purposes (1) to describe our empirical findings and (2) to develop a broader research agenda that identifies a number of key research questions on the role of inclusive innovation projects in developing countries, and ways of addressing those questions in future studies. The empirical findings reveal a wide variety of university departments and individual staff members engaging with low-income user groups or entrepreneurs to (co-)create, launch or operate inclusive innovations. Our analysis shows that unravelling the various structural components and functions can provide interesting new insights into the workings of inclusive innovation systems. The findings of our study illustrate the complexity of the subject matter and the urgent need for a 'system of innovation components' approach to enhance our understanding of inclusive innovation projects and to develop appropriate methodologies for measuring their impacts.
African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 2018
This paper attempts to simplify and conceptualize the meaning of 'use' of innovation indicators in science, technology and innovation (STI) policymaking. The paper provides a conceptual framework that guides analysis of innovation indicators 'use' in STI policymaking. It maps the institutions involved in the indicators chain. In this study, a case study approach study approach is employed zeroing on South Africa. This study is a qualitative research that encompass multi-methods of data collection such as secondary literature review and interviews with mapping and tracing. The conceptual framework adopted frames innovation indicator use in terms of reception, internal application, external application and decision support. The results show that innovation indicators are variously used for STI policymaking by different institutions in South Africa. The salient factors determining use include the indicators processes; relevance; simplicity; timeliness and comparability. Conceptualizing 'use' clarifies meaning and facilitates wide understanding of the subject, an imperative for innovation indictor developers and users. Elaborating institutions involved gives insights on the innovation indicator chain and structures for STI. Future studies should explore the 'influence' of innovation indicators in policymaking. Institutions involved in the innovation indicator chain should be aware of and are encouraged to facilitate use of indicators in STI policymaking.
Rhetoric and change in South Africa's innovation policy
The onset of constitutional democracy in South Africa potentially marked a critical juncture in the evolution of its innovation system. At this point the Ministry responsible for science and technology adopted the innovation systems approach. This adoption followed the IDRC OECD-style review of 1993. Nineteen years later, after a fully-fledged OECD Review, the extent to which the innovation system demonstrates continuity or change may be assessed.