Innovations and Livelihoods / Innovation et moyens de subsistance

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    Innovation Systems in sub-Saharan Africa and innovation indicators
    (2010-09)
    The presentation reflects on components of innovation systems and innovation system frameworks, including a bias towards the manufacturing sector. Coexistence of a formal sector with a large and growing informal sector is characteristic of innovation in South Africa. Design, engineering and associated management capabilities can play a direct and critical role in adapting and modifying specifications for integration into processes and products. This can be considered a link between new knowledge, and production of goods and services.
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    Interaction between Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Indicators and the STI Policy Agenda
    (2010-09)
    The presentation analyzes how STI Indicators may adversely affect policy, and articulates how African countries could be enabled to shape directions of change in the technologies they use. The statistics/indicators problem has involved a process of socio-institutional shaping of the statistical technology, with a reflexive movement which serves the interests of those same institutions. In terms of “developing countries” the technology transfer process was usually embedded in a specific type of national institutional context. The ‘real world’ of STI systems in developing countries was built to fit the imported models, maps and ‘blueprints’ created for statistical enumeration.
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    OECD Innovation Strategy and the Development Agenda
    (2010-09) Gault, Fred
    The presentation emphasizes that the activity of innovation is not an isolated event. A systems approach is implicit in the OECD Innovation Strategy and the Oslo Manual, as innovation requires support through policy and promotion. Knowledge about innovation policy for development needs to be improved, including changing the ways innovation is promoted, measured and discussed.
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    Indicators of Science, Technology and Innovation Presenation
    (2010-09) Gault, Fred
    This presentation provides valuable references to various manuals/guidelines that can discriminate differences between indicators, such as those for Research and Development, and those that apply to Science and Technology. The reference manuals can provide guidelines for the collection and interpretation of data and for international comparisons of data, statistics and indicators. At the same time, these standards are supported by an international infrastructure. Manuals provide a language of discourse and behave as codified knowledge. Patents; Technological Balance of Payments; Human Resources for Science and Technology; Bibliometrics; Innovation Systems, and others provide standardized indicators from which to analyze diverse levels of innovation.
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    Building the knowledge base for innovation
    (2010-09)
    The presentation focuses on innovation systems and knowledge generation/knowledge ecology. Innovating out of poverty requires supportive mechanisms such as: Financial services facilitating linkages; Money transfer; Banking services; Insurance; Empowering the unbanked (women). Knowledge policy is not just education policy. Knowledge creation, transmission and use is part of innovation systems.
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    Innovation Strategies and the Role for Indicators
    (2010-09) Gault, Fred
    The presentation focuses on innovation strategies in terms of South Africa’s goals for economic growth. Indicators can support monitoring, benchmarking, evaluation, foresight and research. The presentation provides a broad review of activities that can support innovation.
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    Challenges of Building Africa's Innovation Systems
    (2010-09) Muchie, Mammo
    The presentation provides clarification of aspects of innovation systems as they apply in the African context. It describes characteristics of emergent innovation systems and innovation drivers and actors. Ideas about the integration of Africa or of creating an Africa nation can themselves be considered as dynamic innovation systems requiring systemic approaches to understanding and creating knowledge in interaction with policies, institutions, system of innovation actors, and incentives. Innovation at the community level would require establishment of a Community Innovation System (CIS) to promote development from the bottom, not just from the state and business.
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    Data gathering and developing and using innovation indicators
    (2010-09) Kahn, Michael
    There are headline grabbing innovations such as cassette tape to CD to iPod. But it is the softer innovations that really matter: Clean water, Quality mass education, Safe and reliable mass transport systems, Clean and affordable food, Quality primary health care. Innovation involves ‘novelty’ – what exactly does this mean? The presentation analyzes how and what data and statistics measure; what underpins a measure (for example patenting and legal frameworks); ‘Research and Development’ and its link with economic growth. It reviews some ways of measuring growth and innovation, along with how various indicators can be generated and graphically displayed for ranking.
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    Role of design and engineering in African innovation systems-building
    (2010-09) Bell, Martin
    Engineering overlaps with design, but extends towards the realisation of specifications into concrete realities along with various kinds of ‘project management.’ Innovation systems are seen as part of the purposeful and explicit function of public policy. Design and engineering activities (and hence underlying capabilities) constitute a key ‘core’ of science, technology and innovation (STI) systems, especially in Africa. However, those activities and capabilities are woefully neglected in policy analysis and policy practice concerned with building African STI systems.
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    Development of an innovation strategy : experiences from Africa
    (2010-09) Gault, Fred
    The presentation analyzes innovation strategies and how to build an innovation strategy in the context of African countries. An innovation strategy or policy is an intention of government to influence the activity of innovation for a reason, such as jobs and growth. It may or may not include targets. An example is a tax policy to promote capital investment in ICTs.
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    Innovation Insights from Projects in African Countries
    (2010-10) Gault, Fred
    Implementation connects innovation to the market. The presentation focuses on user innovation in African countries, with several case studies: Innovation on farms; Telephone/mobile banking; User innovation in firms; Innovation in the informal sector (street vendors).
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    Building African Capacity in Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators
    (2012-03) Gault, Fred
    The aim was capacity building, with training of approximately 35 researchers, practitioners and junior- to mid-level policy makers in the use and application of science, technology and innovation (STI) indicators. Four case study teams were supported, one in Mozambique, one in Senegal and two in South Africa. Research capacity building strengthened research networks through conferences and access to further education. The reports on innovation in the informal economy, in agriculture, in firms that are user innovators, and in the diffusion of telephone banking and related financial services have common threads in knowledge creation and approaches to knowledge sharing.
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    Gender and Innovation Knowledge and Communication Platform
    (2011-05)
    The presentation provides information about the inception of an online platform/website for knowledge sharing and dialogue that supports the Gender and Innovation programme. Partners and ongoing projects are enumerated, with an outline of how the programme will function, along with possibilities for website design.
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    Gender innovation and water : minimum agenda for plugging the hole
    (lnstitute of Envonmental and Water Studies (IEWS), Birzeit University (BZU), Birzeit, West Bank, PS, 2011)
    This bulletin advocates for institutional uptake and increased capacity in effective gender representation, as an innovation approach, and as part of systems of innovation in water laws, policies and projects. It presents means of inclusion within the environmental projects cycle of design and implementation, where gender perspectives can be taken seriously. Women's work and innovative capabilities are too often invisible and unrecognized, and their innovative practices are not given necessary attention by planners.
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    Gender and Innovation a Cross cutting program theme : Innovation Technology and Society; IDRC, January 12, 13 and 14, 2009
    (IDRC, Ottawa, ON, CA, 2009) Ravichandran, Veena
    The role of women in innovation processes and the impacts on their lives are not well understood. This PowerPoint presentation focuses on questions that address gender imbalance in research, and introduces the Gender and Innovation program launch, which entails eight different country perspectives on gender and innovation in different sectors; agricultural innovation and technology; technology and innovation in water resource management; livelihoods and enterprises; and governance and decision making. It asks “Individually and collectively, what lessons can be learnt for policy and institutional changes through innovations that are more inclusive of gender perspectives?”
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    Entrepreneurship and Skills Development through School-based Enterprises : Has it worked for women?; Panel Discussion on “Gender and Entrepreneurship - Exploring the Potential of Self Sufficient schools as a model of Entrepreneurship, Skills Development and Income Generation”
    (LEAD Pakistan, Islamabad, PK, 2010-09) Nisar Bhutta, Gulnaz
    LEAD Pakistan is a think tank, inspiring sustainable development across diverse sectors, with a focus on environment, climate change and development issues. This report provides an update on LEAD initiatives in education with a brief review of panel discussions regarding business development training.
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    Entrepreneurship and Skills Development through School-Based Enterprises : Has it worked for women?; Workshop on Self-sufficient schools - a new model of entrepreneurship, skills development and income generation’
    (LEAD Pakistan, Islamabad, PK, 2010-09) Nisar Bhutta, Gulnaz
    In many developing countries, including Pakistan, Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) is under-valued, under-prioritised and therefore under-funded, leaving little room for institutes to experiment with new methodologies for design and delivery of training. LEAD Pakistan is conducting research on a ‘self-sufficient’ school model, and to identify potential partners to develop a business plan. After learning about successes in Paraguay, workshops were held in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad with invited stakeholders and possible partners to discuss facilitation of the school-based enterprise model of education.
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    Gender and the Agricultural Innovation System in Rural Afghanistan: Barriers and Bridges
    (2011-08) Parto, Saeed
    The presentation outlines research that examined gender dynamics in order to identify the impediments to greater involvement of women in a full range of production from farm to market. The study mapped the agricultural innovation system in three value chains: Grape/Raisin, Almond, and Saffron production. The larger technical report “Gender and the agricultural innovation system in rural Afghanistan; barriers and bridges” can be found here http://hdl.handle.net/10625/49027
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    Support for research and communication capacity building of the project team "Traditional science, technology and innovation systems in the context of modern incubator research development agency"
    (2012)
    The consultant reviews the project, which aims to provide an understanding on the mechanism of innovation in traditional knowledge systems. The principal investigator was found to be enthusiastic and self-driven with a clear understanding of the need to deepen and extend report-writing capabilities. Based on the assessment of problem areas, a workshop weekend provided for strengthening of the report from an innovation systems perspective. The team was focused and receptive, and much work related to revision and research capacity building was accomplished. This consultant’s report provides a detailed overview of a successful approach to capacity building.