Transforming Innovations in Africa

Transforming Innovations in Africa
Author: Jan-Bart Gewald
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2012-11-21
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004245448

Africa abounds with examples of material and immaterial innovations that were envisaged, developed and designed elsewhere yet came to be innovatively and sometimes unexpectedly transformed in Africa. The authors in this volume explore how external innovations (products, technologies, services, institutions and processes) have been appropriated in African societies in order to be acceptable and relevant to local conditions, expectations and demands. Written from different disciplinary perspectives, the chapters demonstrate the depth and richness of innovation in Africa with, in some cases, surprising outcomes. The case studies presented are on subjects as diverse as the wine industry, trading stores, land reforms, washing powder, M-Pesa, cassava, weddings, international borders, guest houses, urban water supply, car technology, shallow wells, and railways and blacksmithing.

Digital Innovations, Business and Society in Africa

Digital Innovations, Business and Society in Africa
Author: Richard Boateng
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 421
Release: 2021-12-18
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9783030779863

For African enterprises, entrepreneurs and governments to take full advantage of new digital opportunities, they need a shared strategic understanding of where they are, what they have, and what they may need to have for the future. This book presents this shared strategic vision to guide future coordinated actions of African enterprises, entrepreneurs, consumers/citizens and governments in using new and emerging digital technologies. It showcases how consumers/citizens, entrepreneurs, organisations, institutions and governments are leveraging new and emerging digital innovations to disrupt and transform value creation and service delivery in Africa.

Africa’s Development Dynamics 2021 Digital Transformation for Quality Jobs

Africa’s Development Dynamics 2021 Digital Transformation for Quality Jobs
Author: African Union Commission
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2021-01-19
Genre:
ISBN: 926460653X

Africa’s Development Dynamics uses lessons learned in the continent’s five regions – Central, East, North, Southern and West Africa – to develop policy recommendations and share good practices. Drawing on the most recent statistics, this analysis of development dynamics attempts to help African leaders reach the targets of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 at all levels: continental, regional, national and local.

Innovation Africa

Innovation Africa
Author: Olugbenga Adesida
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Total Pages: 479
Release: 2016-03-31
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1785603108

This book contains a number of case studies that examine the nature and origins of emerging high-end innovation hubs in Africa. It analyses, highlights and draws lessons from some of the most promising and successful innovation cases in Africa today, exploring the key factors driving their successful emergence, growth and future prospects.

What Do Science, Technology, and Innovation Mean from Africa?

What Do Science, Technology, and Innovation Mean from Africa?
Author: Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2017-06-16
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0262533901

Explorations of science, technology, and innovation in Africa not as the product of “technology transfer” from elsewhere but as the working of African knowledge. In the STI literature, Africa has often been regarded as a recipient of science, technology, and innovation rather than a maker of them. In this book, scholars from a range of disciplines show that STI in Africa is not merely the product of “technology transfer” from elsewhere but the working of African knowledge. Their contributions focus on African ways of looking, meaning-making, and creating. The chapter authors see Africans as intellectual agents whose perspectives constitute authoritative knowledge and whose strategic deployment of both endogenous and inbound things represents an African-centered notion of STI. “Things do not (always) mean the same from everywhere,” observes Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga, the volume's editor. Western, colonialist definitions of STI are not universalizable. The contributors discuss topics that include the trivialization of indigenous knowledge under colonialism; the creative labor of chimurenga, the transformation of everyday surroundings into military infrastructure; the role of enslaved Africans in America as innovators and synthesizers; the African ethos of “fixing”; the constitutive appropriation that makes mobile technologies African; and an African innovation strategy that builds on domestic capacities. The contributions describe an Africa that is creative, technological, and scientific, showing that African STI is the latest iteration of a long process of accumulative, multicultural knowledge production. Contributors Geri Augusto, Shadreck Chirikure, Chux Daniels, Ron Eglash, Ellen Foster, Garrick E. Louis, D. A. Masolo, Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga, Neda Nazemi, Toluwalogo Odumosu, Katrien Pype, Scott Remer

Transforming Innovations in Africa

Transforming Innovations in Africa
Author: Jan-Bart Gewald
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2012-11-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004245235

In Transforming Innovations in Africa the authors explore how external innovations (products, technologies, services, institutions and processes) that were envisaged, developed and designed elsewhere, came to be innovatively and sometimes unexpectedly appropriated and transformed within Africa.

Ten Types of Innovation

Ten Types of Innovation
Author: Larry Keeley
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 581
Release: 2013-07-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1118571398

Innovation principles to bring about meaningful and sustainable growth in your organization Using a list of more than 2,000 successful innovations, including Cirque du Soleil, early IBM mainframes, the Ford Model-T, and many more, the authors applied a proprietary algorithm and determined ten meaningful groupings—the Ten Types of Innovation—that provided insight into innovation. The Ten Types of Innovation explores these insights to diagnose patterns of innovation within industries, to identify innovation opportunities, and to evaluate how firms are performing against competitors. The framework has proven to be one of the most enduring and useful ways to start thinking about transformation. Details how you can use these innovation principles to bring about meaningful—and sustainable—growth within your organization Author Larry Keeley is a world renowned speaker, innovation consultant, and president and co-founder of Doblin, the innovation practice of Monitor Group; BusinessWeek named Keeley one of seven Innovation Gurus who are changing the field The Ten Types of Innovation concept has influenced thousands of executives and companies around the world since its discovery in 1998. The Ten Types of Innovation is the first book explaining how to implement it.

Social Innovation In Africa

Social Innovation In Africa
Author: Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2016-07-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317294270

Encouraged by the emergence and early impact of social innovators on the African Continent, but frustrated by the slow pace of large scale change, this book is focused on filling the knowledge gap for those tackling Africa’s serious social problems. It lays out the required building blocks for achieving scale at impact. By creating clear mission, vision, and values statements and piloting and rolling out business models that are demand-driven, simple, and low-cost, with compelling measurement and evaluation tools that leverage technology. It also explores the steps for attracting and retaining talent and financing and forming strategic partnerships with the private, public and non-profit sectors to foster scaling. Practical case studies provide inspiration for those who seek to become innovators or to be employed by them. Finally, it outlines the crucial steps for key stakeholders to take in order to support the emergence of more social innovators on the African continent, create an enabling environment for the scaling of high-impact initiatives and advance collective efforts to build stronger communities for current and future generations. This is a practical and inspirational guide for all entrepreneurs and individuals that seek to combine business and social goals and for those in the public, private and non-profit sectors that aim to foster and support these projects.

Innovation for inclusive development and transformation in South Africa

Innovation for inclusive development and transformation in South Africa
Author: Charles Hongoro
Publisher: AOSIS
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2023-03-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1779952201

Science, technology, and innovation (STI) are generally accepted as major drivers of growth and can help address poverty and directly improve the well-being of different groups in society. However, under certain circumstances, STI can reinforce social exclusion and inequalities. This book explores discourses around directionality and the importance of Innovation for Inclusive Development (IID) in addressing policy questions that explore the relationship between IID with inequalities in income and opportunities. It seeks to unpack the concept of IID and what it means in a country such as South Africa – a country characterised by endemic poverty, deepening inequality, and high levels of unemployment. The book is largely original and based on a critique of existing literature to expose specific issues or bolster specific arguments about the role of IID in equitable and inclusive development. This book has been written by various scholars who understand the various notions of IID and how it can possibly be applied and the relevance of such knowledge for policy, programmes and practice.

Structural Transformation in South Africa

Structural Transformation in South Africa
Author: Antonio Andreoni
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2021
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0192894315

Taking South Africa as an important case study of the challenges of structural transformation, the book offers a new micro-meso level framework and evidence linking country-specific and global dynamics of change, with a focus on the current challenges and opportunities faced by middle-income countries.