Factors Impacting on the Current Level of Open Innovation and ICT Entrepreneurship in Africa

Abstract

Across Africa, Innovation and ICT entrepreneurship are increasingly recognised as important enablers of national and regional socio-economic growth. However, the level of skills capacity, indigenous entrepreneurial expertise and policy support varies considerably. This research study was informed by a semi-structured, moderated focus group involving five public and four education and research stakeholders from eight African Member States. It focused on identifying factors impacting on the current level of open innovation and ICT entrepreneurship in Africa. Organised in Lilongwe, Malawi on 08 May 2015 during IST-Africa Week 2015, a purposive approach was applied to identify the nine informants based on intensity sampling. The results highlighted six main factors: a) level of political will reflected by resource prioritisation; b) alignment with national development plans and associated funding priorities; c) level of understanding of strategic benefits by ministers and senior civil servants; d) level of awareness and sensitization of the general public, e) availability of national innovation and entrepreneurial expertise; and f) willingness and capacity to cooperate with other stakeholders to achieve common goals. Future research will capture perspectives from the private, societal and international donor sectors, and create and validate potential models/methodologies to address the challenges and opportunities identified in this study.

Identifying Essential Components of a Digital Health Innovation Ecosystem for the Namibian Context: Findings from a Delphi Study

“…This component together with the mean and SD are presented in Table 8. Cunningham et al (2016) imply that open innovation is considered relevant to developing countries, which is in line with the findings of this study which indicates that knowledgeable professionals in the field of innovation consider open innovation as a component of innovation relevant for the development of a digital health innovation ecosystem for the Namibian context. Product innovation might be considered irrelevant, although it has been identified in developing countries (Selfano & Robert, 2014;Waribugo et al, 2016) because products are not to be produced in a digital health innovation ecosystem rather services are provided in the digital health innovation ecosystem.…”

Inovação Aberta Nas Incubadoras: Revisão Integrativa Da Literatura

“…As boas práticas podem ser usadas para sensibilizar o público e empresas sobre inovação, empreendedorismo e desenvolvimento de produto e/ou serviço dos incubados, por meio de hackathons, termo que representa maratona de programação ou ideathons, termo que indica a maneira de apresentar ideias de negócios (CUNNINGHAM et al, 2016).…”

“…Organizar hackathons e plataformas de relacionamentos para troca de experiências (Kitsios et al, 2017); (Cunningham et al 2016); (Richter, et al 2018).…”

“…Atividades que estimulem as partes interessadas a se engajar e cooperar, requer financiamento para cocriação de produtos e serviços (Cunningham et al, 2016 Evento de pitch competitivo é realizado, muitas vezes acessível ao público, em que empresas estabelecidas (e muitas vezes com empresários experientes) decidem sobre equipes selecionadas, que podem ser apoiadas nos desenvolvimentos de negócios (Richter et al, 2018).…”

“…Os incentivos mais relevantes para startups são fornecimento de experiências, conhecimentos e financiamento inicial para o negócio (Cunningham et al 2016).…”