The Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), together with the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) and the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation, are organising the next annual STIAS-Wallenberg Roundtable forum on Innovation Policy, at STIAS in Stellenbosch from 21 to 23 February 2016.
Ever since 2012 the series of annual Roundtables at STIAS has established itself as an arena for high-level discussions on important societal issues for Sub-Saharan Africa.
The decision to focus the next Roundtable forum on Innovation policy was taken in the context of higher than average growth rates during the last decades in Africa, compared to many other regions in the world.
The challenge is now to take this positive development further. That requires not only a comprehensive policy framework for knowledge creation, but also an institutional set-up to ensure that knowledge is converted into societal use. Neither does innovation take place in isolation, nor does it appear automatically where new knowledge is generated. Promotion and government of modern innovation-driven economies require expertise and experience from different sectors and at many levels of decision making.
The aim of this up-coming Roundtable is to target challenges related to innovation and prosperity, and to sustainable innovation-driven growth — hence the theme of Innovation for prosperity.
The Roundtable programme will cover issues such as the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in building societal values, how to build a knowledge base for innovation, the important connection between innovation and job creation, and how to create stronger benefits from closer co-operation across regions in Africa. African cases from different business sectors will be high-lighted to identify hindrances and opportunities of innovation in the region.
The event will start with an informal welcome reception at 18h00 on Sunday February 21 and will end on Tuesday February 23, 2016, at 16h30.
The two-day forum from 22 to 23 February 2016 will include keynotes, prepared panel discussions and Q&A sessions around the topics mentioned above, the objective being to bring forward recommendations for policy actions and technological opportunities. These will be summarized in a Memorandum and conveyed with full endorsement from the technical advisers to relevant ministries and other high-level decision-makers in government and business.
Participants will receive a discussion paper, which will serve as background for the debates at the Roundtable forum, at least three weeks before the start of the event. In addition, the results of a Delphi study – soliciting participants’ opinions on issues in innovation policy – will be conducted and made available for discussion during the Roundtable programme.
- The updated (17 Feb 2016) draft Roundtable programme can be downloaded here.
- The discussion paper which serves as background for the debates is available here.
- A note on the idea behind STIAS-Wallenberg Roundtables is available here and a brief status report on previous Roundtables here.
- The Core Group members who also act as technical advisors can be found here.
- A map of the venue area can be downloaded here.
- Find visa requirements here and visitors information on Stellenbosch and vicinity here.
For enquiries about the Roundtable programme, contact
Johann Groenewald at [email protected].
For enquiries about registration, accommodation and travel arrangements, contact
Nel-Mari Loock at [email protected].
