AFRICA AND THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

Transcription

1 AFRICA AND THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY Module Regions in Globalization: Africa and the Near east Wednesday, 9-11 am NSG, S 113 Moodle: Dr. Ute Rietdorf rietdorf@uni-leipzig.de COURSE DESCRIPTION The term Knowledge Economy was already coined by Peter Drucker in Yet, it took some time to enter academic discussions about the changed foundations of economic growth and competitiveness. It is in widespread use today, being taken for granted. Nevertheless, its bases, components and the consequences for different world regions are not always clearly understood. This seminar deals with aspects of Africa s integration into the global economy; resting on knowledge as the most critical resource. Issues like education, innovation systems, investments into ICT-infrastructure, and societal framework conditions for reaping the economic benefits of accumulated knowledge will play a central role. In addition, the reality of knowledge generation and transfer in Africa is highlighted in case studies across the continent, including among others indigenous knowledge systems and intellectual property rights. The seminar closes with a review of the spatial features of knowledge production, and the discourse patterns inherent to the discussion in the African context. SYLLABUS Session 1: Introduction Topics: Course objectives, course requirements and readings, overview about upcoming topics and their relevance, discussion of assignments Session 2: Knowledge Topics: Definition of knowledge ; the economy of knowledge and its limits; knowledge policies in Africa and their link to sustainable development Hamel, J. (2004): Knowledge Policies for Sustainable Development in Africa, A Strategic Framework for Good Governance, Draft Working Paper, ECA/SDD, Addis Ababa, October 2004 Metcalfe, J.S.; R. Ramlogan (2005): Limits to the economy of knowledge and the knowledge of the economy, in: Futures 37 (2005), pp Session 3: The Knowledge Economy Topics: Development, characteristics and signs of the Knowledge Economy (KE) at a global scale; pillars of the KE and methods of measuring them; regional disparities; Africa s status in the KE and future prospects 1/5

2 World Bank (2008): Measuring Knowledge in the World s Economies, The World Bank Institute, Washington Makinda, S. (2007): How Africa can benefit from knowledge, in Futures 39 (2007), pp Session 4: Knowledge Economy - Pillar I: Education Topics: Relationship between education and KE; educational systems in Africa; educational policies in Africa; the link between education and ICT Riddell, A. (2003): The introduction of free primary education in Sub-Saharan Africa, Paper commissioned for the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2003/4, the Leap to Equality, Weber, A. S. (2011): The role of education in knowledge economies in developing countries, in: Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 15 (2011), pp Ford, D. M. (2007): Technologizing Africa: On the bumpy information highway, in: Computers and Composition 24 (2007), pp Session 5: Knowledge Economy - Pillar II: ICT Topics: Relationship between ICT and KE; the Digital divide ; ICT in education policy and practice in Africa; ICT and economic development Butcher, N. (2011): ICT in Africa. A Few Key Challenges, in: ICT, Education, Development, and the Knowledge Society, Thematic Paper prepared for GeSCI African Leadership in ICT Program, December 2011, pp Blignaut, A. S. et al. (2010): ICT in education policy and practice in developing countries: South Africa and Chile compared through SITES 2006; in: Computers and education 55 (2010), pp Obijiofor, L. (2009): Mapping theoretical and practical issues in the relationship between ICTs and Africa s socio-economic development; in: Telematics and Informatics 26 (2009), pp Session 6: Knowledge Economy - Pillar III: Innovation Systems Topics: The meaning of innovation ; relationship between innovation (systems) and KE; innovation and innovation systems in Africa; sectoral approaches to innovation in Africa; challenges and opportunities for innovation systems in Africa AU-NEPAD (2010): African Innovation Outlook 2010, AU-NEPAD, Pretoria Carisle, Sh. Et al. (2013): Supporting innovation for tourism development through multi-stakeholder approaches: Experiences from Africa, in: Tourism Management 35 (2013), pp /5

3 Session 7: Knowledge Economy - Pillar IV: Institutions & economic incentives Topics: Defining institutions ; the Institutional Economics approach to economic development; the role of incentives for economic development; the relationship between institutions and KE; governing the pillars of the KE Cogburn, D. (2003): Governing global information and communications policy: Emergent regime formation and the impact on Africa, in: Telecommunications Policy 27 (2003), pp Letiche, J. M. (2006): Positive economic incentives. New behavioural economics and successful economic transitions, in: Journal of Asian Economics 17 (2006), in: Session 8: Intellectual capital & economic development in Africa Topics: The term intellectual capital ; the European approach to measure intellectual capital; intellectual capital and firms development; policy making for supporting intellectual capital formation, accumulation, and disclosure in Africa Preece, J. (2013): Africa and international policy making for lifelong learning: textual revelations, in: International Journal of Educational Development 33 (2013), pp Wagiciengo, M.M.; A. R. Belal (2012): Intellectual capital disclosure by South African companies: A longitudinal investigation; in: Advances in Accounting, incorporating Advances in International Accounting 28 (2012), pp Session 9: A: Indigenous knowledge systems Topics: Defining Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) ; research on IKS in Africa and its application in the global KE; managing indigenous knowledge in and for Africa s development Raseroka, K. (2008): Information transformation Africa: Indigenous knowledge Securing space in the knowledge society, in: The International Information and Library Review (2008) 40, pp Lwoga, E. T. et al. (2010): Managing indigenous knowledge for sustainable agricultural development in developing countries: Knowledge management approaches in the social context, in: The International Information & Library Review (2010) 42, pp Session 10: B: Research and Development in Africa Topics: General trends of research and development (R&D) in Africa; the link between R&D, knowledge production and economic development; agricultural research in Africa and agricultural innovation; incorporating indigenous knowledge into R&D 3/5

4 Sumberg, J. (2005): Systems of innovation theory and the changing architecture of agricultural research in Africa, in: Food Policy 30 (2005), pp German, L.; A. Stroud (2007): A Framework for the integration of diverse learning approaches: Operationalizing agricultural research and development (R&D) linkages in Eastern Africa, in: World Development, Vol. 35, no. 5, pp Session 11: C: Intellectual Property Rights Topics: Intellectual property rights and economic development; international systems of protecting intellectual property; nature-related indigenous knowledge, its economic use and protection Lor, P.J.; J. Britz (2005): Knowledge Production from an African perspective: International information flows and intellectual property, in: The International Information & Library review (2005) 37, pp Myburgh, A.F. (2011): Legal developments in the protection of plant-related traditional knowledge: An intellectual property lawyer s perspective of the international and South African legal framework, in: South African Journal of Botany 77 (2011), pp Zerbe, N. (2005): Biodiversity, ownership, and indigenous knowledge: exploring legal frameworks for community, farmers, and intellectual property rights in Africa, in: Ecological Economics 53 (2005), pp Session 12: The Spatiality of Knowledge Production Topics: The spatial context of knowledge production; proximity and virtuality; knowledge spillovers and technology transfer; the spatial governance of knowledge production and its political economy Bidwell, N. J et al. (2011): Pushing personhood into place: Situating media in rural knowledge in Africa, in: International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 69 (2011), pp Neimark, B. D. (2012): Industrializing nature, knowledge, and labour: The political economy of bioprospecting in Madagascar, in: Geoforum 43 (2012), pp Session 13: The Knowledge Economy and the Transformation of Space: E- commerce & m-pesa Topics: Defining e-business/e-commerce ; linking e-commerce with intellectual capital; challenges and opportunities of e-commerce in Africa; m-pesa: the Kenyan way of transforming economy and society Moodley, S. (2003): The Challenge of e-business for the South African apparel sector, in: Technovation 23 (2003), pp Maswera, T et al. (2008): E-commerce adoption of travel and tourism organisations in South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Uganda, in: Telematics and Informatics 25 (2008), pp /5

5 Session 14: The Discourse about Knowledge Economy in Africa Topics: Knowledge Economy reviewed; critical reflections on knowledge as the key resource; knowledge and the politics of discourse Rooney, D. (2005): Knowledge, economy, technology and society: The politics of discourse, in: Telematics and Informatics 22 (2005), pp Lin, B. (2006): A sustainable perspective on the knowledge economy: A critique of Austrian and mainstream view, in: Ecological Economics XXX (2006), pp. XXX-XXX Session 15: Summary and Final Discussion Summing up; outlook to future areas of research 5/5