The DST/NRF/Newton Fund Trilateral Research Chair in Transformative Innovation, the 4th Industrial Revolution and Sustainable Development is a partnership between three organisations: the host, the University of Johannesburg; the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) , which is a research think-tank in Nairobi; and the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), an internationally recognised leading centre research on science, technology and innovation policy, based at the University of Sussex in the UK. Our research programme has the ambition to develop and test a new theoretical framework to understand transformation, in the context of 4IR and from an African perspective. The three partners share a common interest in unpacking the social and technological relationships that explain the rate, direction and patterns of (radical) innovation adoption, diffusion and use. This is a process involving not only technologies but also changes in consumer practices and needs, the skills and capabilities of all actors involved, infrastructures, governance, regulation, industry structure and cultural meaning of the system.
In addition to exploring innovation in 4IR in African countries, by using a transformation lens, our programme also looks at the governance and policy issues of how to exploit the transformative potential of these technologies to address the SDGs. Here the programme collaborates with the existing Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium (TIPC) currently coordinated by the Science and Policy Research Unit (SPRU) and the University of Sussex, UK. The main aim is to ensure that 4IR potential is harnessed for Sub-Saharan Africa and in particular South Africa and Kenya.
Participants in the session were:
- Professor Erika Kraemer-Mbula from the DSI/NRF/Newton Fund Trilateral Chair in Transformative Innovation, the 4IR and, Sustainable Development, at the University of Johannesburg
- Dr Rob Byrne from the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex
- Dr Ann Kingiri from the African Centre for Technology Studies.
- Ms Amanda-Leigh O’Connell PhD Student from the University of Johannesburg
- Ms Wondia Yeo PhD student from the University of Johannesburg
- Ms Ann Numi PhD student from the African Centre for Technology Studies
- Dr Glenda Kruss from the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators at the Human Sciences Research Council.
- Professor Rebecca Hanlin from the DSI/NRF/Newton Fund Trilateral Chair in Transformative Innovation, the 4IR and, Sustainable Development, at the University of Johannesburg
- Nabila Noor Mohammed Project Coordinator from the DSI/NRF/Newton Fund Trilateral Chair in Transformative Innovation, the 4IR and, Sustainable
Ref: #47