Training Course on

Science, Technology and Innovation Policies

for SADC countries

Overall idea and structure

The aim of the activity is capacity building in admini-

strations responsible for policies on higher education,

research and innovation in the participating African

countries. At the end of the two workshops each par-

ticipant should have (a) a sound overview of the state

of art concepts and methods in this field (first work-

shop), (b) digged and discussed issues that are most

relevant for his/her country and acquired key elements

about policy portfolios and methods concerning those

issues in order to apply their knowledge and skills for

their own countries.

The training aims at building up policy capacity in

SADC countries, exposing the participants from

SADC countries to the fast changing world of policies

associated with higher education, research and innova-

tion and enable them to develop strategies for their

own domestic contexts. The course will lead to a cer-

tificate.

The course is organised in four sequences over an 11

month period:

I. A first five-day teaching course will enable present

and discuss why, facing the overall challenge of na-

tional innovation capabilities, the three sectoral poli-

cies are now more and more associated, what types of

new instruments are developed and/or mobilised, what

new policy mixes emerge, what changes in overall

governance are witnessed. The course will take place

October 1 to October 5 2012, Pretoria.

II. Participants will then select an issue, make a review

of on-going developments and compose a concrete

strategy or implementation paper, proposing new

directions and concrete actions that might relevant for

their countries. This personal work will be supported

by two mentors and by an interim ‘work-in-progress’

workshop taking place February 5 to 8, 2013, Preto-

ria.

III. These strategy papers will build the core of a policy conference May 6, 2013 to May 10, 2013 in Pretoria aiming at dis-

cussing potential new directions and policy mixes for the different member countries.

IV. The final version of the strategy paper will be delivered as a report as the basis for the certificate by end of June 2013.

INTRODUCTION

Science and technology influence society as never before. Scientific achievements continue to expand the frontier of

knowledge at a sustained pace and increasingly contribute to technological progress that affects our ways of living and

working.

Convinced that science, technology and innovation are critical to the development and economic growth of the continent,

in January 2007, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union endorsed the Consolidated Plan of Action for

Science and Technology in Africa and adopted the Addis Ababa Declaration on Scientific Research for Development .

The CPA outlines programmes and specific policy issues and stressed the need for building the continent’s capacities to

harness, apply and develop science and technology in order to eradicate poverty, fight diseases, stem environmental degra-

dation, and improve economic competitiveness.

The CPA erected on three interrelated conceptual pillars. These are: (a) capacity building (b) knowledge production, and

(c) technological innovation. Capacity building in this context refers to the creation, improvement and mobilization of hu-

man skills, physical infrastructures, financial resources and the necessary policies for science and technology to be pro-

duced and used to solve specific African

problems.

Recent years have marked a new era of institutional stability in the SADC region. In keeping with the need to develop

competitive capacity and capability as well as a long-term view for the role of science and technology (S&T) in industrial

development, SADC Ministers of Science and Technology expressed the need to further develop institutional and S&T

policy capacity in the region through training in science and technology policy.

In December 2008 the SADC Science and Technology Ministers endorsed the Science Policy training for SADC Senior

officials, and mandated South Africa to lead the process towards the initiation of the training. UNESCO was contacted to

ensure a balanced approach in putting forward the different aspects to science, technology and innovation policy interna-

tionally.

The role of UNESCO in STI policy is threefold: a think tank on policy development; a guide for national policy reforms;

and a catalyst for regional and international cooperation. UNESCO cooperates with African Member States in formulating

their S&T policies, strategies and plans as well as in the reform of their S&T systems by bringing to light policy options

for the governance of S&T systems in the global and national context; supporting participatory policy formulation and/or

reviews to improve the management of S&T effort at the national level.

Africa is one of the two global priorities at UNESCO and the Organization has accompanied the AU in these efforts to put

science and technology on the agenda for the economic development of the African continent. To date over 25 African

member States have requested assistance from UNESCO, via their Governments, for the review and reformulation of their

national STI policies. UNESCO cooperates with Member States in the formulation STI policies based on credible informa-

tion through the collection and use of STI data, with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). This involves building of

national statistical capacity; training of national personnel, and provision of advice and support to in-country statistical ac-

tivities. Capacity building in STI policy review and or reformulation and evidence based policy was conducted through 4

sub-regional workshops across the continent between 2008-2011.

UNESCO in collaboration with the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR) will be expected to deliver the

training modules and tutor the participants online on specific themes particularly relevant to the Member States This will

enable all participants to acquire knowledge on different themes relating to STI policy such as IP issues, university technol-

ogy transfer, monitoring and evaluating STIP etc. MIoIR will also build capacity in one of the SADC universities, namely,

the University of Zimbabwe (selected through a tender procedure), to take the course forward – with the view that the

SADC university will in the long-term elevate the training to a post-graduate course.

This course will run for one year and highlight changes in the global environment to focus on ongoing transformations in

policy mixes (and the portfolio of policy instruments), the growing role of demand driven policies (within which procure-

ment policies is an important component), capacity building and the central role of universities, evolving regional dimen-

sions and the evolution of policymaking / policy processes (including the use of foresight and vision shaping, changing na-

ture and role of indicators, professionalization of implementation, repositioning of evaluation in the policy cycle). Special

focus will be made on the role of public debates, in the African context (and corresponding transformations of national poli-

cies and organisations) and the fast changing role of public research organisations.

Target Group The course is targeted at high and me-

dium level policy makers from minis-

tries and agencies responsible for

Higher Education, science and inno-

vation in the SADC countries.

The rationale of the course In all countries, innovation is more and more considered as a central resource and feature for further development. This has

given rise to the emergence of policies centred on boosting the innovative capacities of firms, public sector organisations and

societal groups. These policies have to take into account our enlarged understanding of innovation processes, which can be

summed up in four considerations:

First, innovation is a complex, multi-faceted process. It is often drawing on science and research, but often also stems from

other sources and interactions. In any case, innovation processes are seldom simply linear, and while a sound and suitable

science system can be an important source of innovation, investing in public research is not enough to generate new innova-

tions.

Second, the notion of open innovation emphasises a second central aspect, the involvement of multiple actors in the innova-

tion process (both public and private, academic and industrial, producers and users), thus the importance of interfaces, inter-

actions and collaborations and of institutional settings and incentives that nurture them. One of these is associated to knowl-

edge ‘thickness’ and the need for proximity between actors in the innovation process. This has driven policies to foster on

two main forms of proximity: geographical warranting the support of ‘clusters’, and sector-based, driving to a renewed inter-

est in industry collective research centres and in mission oriented organisations.

Third, innovation is not always technological, the notion of ‘new business models’ captures the importance of the ‘non tech-

nological dimensions’ and to the inter-linkage of the product and service dimensions in any innovation.

Finally, innovation depends on human capital. Though self-evident, it has taken a long time before this has been properly

recognised in policy-making, putting higher education and universities at the core of innovation policies, less for their ability

to generate and transfer knowledge than for providing innovating actors with the adequately trained human resources.

Each of those four dimensions can be addressed individually, but we also have learned that performance is less an issue of

each actor or each dimension but of their relevant combination and articulation in ‘innovation systems’. There is thus a cen-

tral issue for Governments to ensure an in-depth understanding of the “systemic situation” and the overall regulatory and in-

frastructural framework conditions of their countries, to develop a vision of the overall direction and of the policy-mix that

corresponds to it, before individual policies and instruments can be deployed productively.

Delivering the training: the initial 5-days course

Core content The course draws upon the annual course the Manchester Institute of Innovation

Research delivers on recent developments on policies for higher education, re-

search and innovation (traditional acronym: STIP course). This course high-

lights changes in the global environment to focus on going transformations in

policy mixes (and the portfolio of policy instruments), on the growing role of

demand driven policies (within which procurement policies is an important

component), on capacity building and the central role of universities, on evolv-

ing regional dimensions and on the evolution of policymaking / policy proc-

esses (including the use of foresight and vision shaping, changing nature and

role of indicators, professionalisation of implementation, repositioning of

evaluation in the policy cycle). Depending upon the audience specific foci are

made on the role of public debates, on the Europeanisation process (and lessons

from corresponding transformations of national policies and organisations) and

on the fast changing role of public research organisations. Most of the sessions

are made of one synthetic lecture about the state of the art and on-going

changes, and of cases that enable to discuss one change in a more tangible and

practical way.

Our ambition in this course for SADC countries is to keep the overall STIP ap-

proach, but strongly contextualising basic notions of innovation and science

systems, and offering – each day – afternoon group discussion sessions to better

understand and characterise how important these issues are for African coun-

tries (or subsets of them), how they are raised and addressed, what the central

problems are, etc. Interactions with participants in this training course will be

central to the overall performance of the process.

Organisation of the teaching week The week is thus organised around 5 themes, one per day:

3 dealing with overall transformations in systems and models, capability build-

ing and on the supportive environment

1 dealing with policy processes focusing on approaches to ‘strategic intelli-

gence’

1 dealing with policy-mixes.

Each day (9 am to 5 pm) will be introduced by an overall positioning lecture (30

minutes max) and composed of a set of 2-3 two hours topical lecture sessions.

Each day will also give room for group work (6-7.30 pm). Ample opportunities

will be given to participants to engage with course teachers about their own pol-

icy-oriented problems in two so-called clinics Tuesday and Wednesday after

dinner. Friday afternoon will conclude the week with discussions on individual

projects and a summary session.

Continuous learning: individual work, mentoring and mid-term methodology workshop

To get a certificate, participants will have to pro-

duce an individual piece of work. The process is

designed to accompany them in this personal in-

vestment. This piece will focus on the policy is-

sue / theme they will have selected by the end of

the first week training course. The objective is to

produce on that issue or theme, a strategic paper

analysing the situation, identifying policy options

and developing an argumentation for the selection

of the most relevant policy option and mix for

their country and suggest concrete implementation

mechanisms. The nature of the papers will vary,

but all are supposed to make a concrete difference

in their country, to be implemented. We expect

this work to take participants around 6 months to

be developed. Each participant will have two lec-

turing staff as designated mentors, one form

MBS and one from University of Zimbabwe. The

e-learning facilities of the University of Manches-

ter will enable participants to get access to the resources of the University, and facilitate exchanges. To support this proc-

ess, participants will be official virtual visitors to the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research. Finally, an intermedi-

ary methodology-oriented workshop will be organised to address the methodological problems faced by participants.

Delivering the training: valorising individual work in a fi-nal policy workshop The individual strategy papers will build the core of the policy conference in May 2013. The course participants will pre-

sent their papers in thematic sessions. The presentations will be complemented by key note speeches on key themes devel-

oped by the projects. The presentations and the reports will be uploaded on the website of the course to build a repository

of policy strategy options for SADC countries.

Key themes covered in the teaching week

Monday: Introduction; Innovation systems; and policy structures

Tuesday: Capability building with a focus on universities and sec-

tor/technology oriented research organisations

Wednesday: Friendly environment for innovation with an over-

view of classical instruments (IP, standards and fiscal)

and a focus on demand-based and sub-national policies

Regulation and fiscal measures, Demand Side Policies,

Regional Policies

Thursday: strategic intelligence with sessions of foresight, evalua-

tion and positioning indicators Strategic Intelligence,

Foresight, Constructive Technology Assessment, Eva-

luation and Policy Learning, Positioning indicators

Friday: Policy Mixes, Individual projects, Wrap up

The Manchester lecturing team and the Man-chester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR)

The lecturing team is comprised of seven senior staff of the Manchester Institute of Innovation

Research plus Prof. Arie Rip, emeritus Professor, University of Twente and Prof. Philippe

Laredo, University of Paris. All of the lecturers have many years of experience in teaching and

researching around the topics to be covered in the course and published widely in all of them.

Kate Barker, Seniour Lecturer, MIOIR

Kate will focus on STI policy evaluation and analysis

Dr. Kieron Flanagan, Lecturer

Kieron will lecture on policy mix, and demand

Prof Ian Miles, MIoIR

Ian is a specialist of foresight activities as well as a renown scholar on innovation in

services

Prof Arie Rip, emer. University Twente

Arie will lecture on systems, strategic intelligence, foresight and CTA

Prof. Jakob Edler, Executive Director MIOIR

Jakob is a course leader, and will focus on demand side poli-

cies and system aspects of policy

Prof. Philippe Laredo, MIoIR and Université Paris-Est.

Philippe is a course leader, focussing on policy structures,

indirect instruments and indicators

Dr. Maria Nedeva, senior lecturer MIoIR

Maria will lecture on universities and research organisa-

tions.

Dr. Elvira Uyarra, Researcher, MIoIR

Elvira will focus on ‘regional’ policies, demand side policy

and policy mix

The Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR) is the research centre of excellence in the Manchester Business

School (MBS) and The University of Manchester in the field of innovation and science studies. With more than 50 full

members and a range of associated academics from across the University, MIoIR is Europe’s largest and one of the

World’s leading research centres in this field.

The Institute’s key strengths lie in the linkage and cross-fertilisation of economics, management and policy around innova-

tion and science. Building on forty years of tradition in innovation and science studies, the Institute’s philosophy is to com-

bine academic rigour with concrete practical relevance for policy and management. This includes broad engagement with

and research for policy makers and societal and industrial stakeholders in the Manchester City Region, across the UK and

internationally. MIoIR is also firmly committed to a range of teaching activities within and beyond MBS and integrates a

strong and successful PhD programme into its research activities. The Institute has a visitor programme for academics and

management and policy practitioners and provides a range of popular and high level executive education courses on

evaluation, foresight and S&T Policy.

For further information

see: http://research.mbs.ac.uk/innovation/

or contact

Siobhan Drugan

Overall Course Administrator

Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR)

Manchester Business School, MBS Harold Hankins

The University of Manchester

Manchester M13 9PL | Tel +44 (0) 161 275 0451 | Fax +44 (0) 161 275 0923

Email: siobhan.drugan@mbs.ac.uk

The University of Zimbabwe Team and In-novation and Policy Development (UZIPD The Lecturing team from the University of Zimbabwe is from a diverse background within

Scientific Areas, Policy Areas, and Business School. The team has experienced personnel

that have been lecturing in Policy and have been involved nationally, regionally, and inter-

nationally in policy formulation and development.

The University of Zimbabwe members of staff have experience in researching, training and

publishing on Science and Technology in its diversity. The resource persons have experien-

ces from the Faculties of Engineering; Arts; Social Studies; Science; Law; Business School;

Institute of Environmental Studies. Some of the members of staff are researching and trai-

ning on Science and Technology policy; Industrialisation linkages with this policy; national

innovation systems; international and regional networking on Science and Technology; poli-

cy formulation and implementation; policy sustainability and case studies and comparative

analysis. The University of Zimbabwe Innovation and Policy Development Unit under the

Office of the Vice Chancellor has been taking this expertise to the nation and to the region.

Thus diverse teams are being put together to harness on this extensive expertise.

Prof. Sara Feresu

STI Policy Evaluation and analysis

Dr. Michale J. Tumbare

Evaluation, Demand side, Policy System

Dr. Charity Manyeruke

Policy Mix, Internationalisation and indicators

Dr Gilford Hapanyengwi

Innovation Systems and Standards

Dr. Maurice Mutowo

Foresight nad New Business Models

Prof. Marvellous Mhloyi

Research Organisation and Funding Model

Dr. Amon Murwvira

Strategic intelligence, Foresight and CTA

Mr. Nyasha Chishakwe

Legal Rights, Demand side, international and Policy mix

The Department of Science and Technology, Ministry for Science and Technology, South Africa Facilitators:

Ms Anneline Morgan

Director: Africa Cooperation

Ms Phumelele Higgins

Deputy Director: Africa Cooperation

SADC Funda Mpanza

SADC Secretariat

UNESCO- overall coordinator, facilitator and part of training team

Professor Alaphia Wright, UNESCO– Director Windhoek Cluster Office

Prof. Alaphia Wright is UNESCO’s Representative to Angola, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland.

He leads the UNESCO team for this training, primarily covering facilitation and quality assurance.

Dr Shamila Nair-Bedouelle, UNESCO– Programme Specialist (Science and Technology), Africa Department,

Paris

Dr Shamila Nair-Bedouelle, a trained biochemist and molecular biologist and member of the Academy of Sciences of

South Africa, holds the title of Director of Research, French Institute for Medical and Health Research. As the Chief

of Unit, CPA Implementation, UNESCO, Paris, she trained STI policy makers in Africa and worked individually

with African countries, guiding and providing technical assistance with their STI policy reviews and reformulations.

Support is also acknowledged from the Natural Sciences Sector, Division for Science Policy and Capacity Building, UNESCO, Paris

Sponsors The activity is financed through the Department for Science and Technology, Ministry for Science and Technology, South Africa; the

Australian Aid funds (AUSAID)

provided to DST, South Africa, and UNESCO and Manchester Institute of Innovation Research .

Design and Layout: Aurélie Ek, Shamila Nair-Bedouelle/AFRICA Department , UNESCO, Paris