Models that depict innovation as a smooth, well-behaved linear process badly misspecify the nature and direction of the causal factors at work. Innovation is complex, uncertain, somewhat disorderly, and subject to changes of many sorts. Innovation is also difficult to measure and demands close coordination of adequate technical knowledge and excellent market judgment in order to satisfy economic, technological, and other types of constraints—all simultaneously. The process of innovation must be viewed as a series of changes in a complete system not only of hardware, but also of market environment, production facilities and knowledge, and the social contexts of the innovation organization.

An Overview of Innovation

As nation-states in the Northern Hemisphere experience economic crisis, political corruption and racial tension, it seems as though they might be 'evolving' into the kind of societies normally associated with the 'Global South'. Anthropologists Jean and John Comaroff draw on their long experience of living in Africa to address a range of familiar themes - democracy, national borders, labour and capital and multiculturalism. They consider how we might understand these issues by using theory developed in the Global South. Challenging our ideas about 'developed' and 'developing' nations, Theory from the South provides new insights into key problems of our time.

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Theory from the South: Or, How Euro-America is Evolving Toward Africa

Over the past few years, agribusiness, investment funds and government agencies have been acquiring long-term rights over large areas of farmland in lower income countries. It is widely thought that private sector expectations of higher agricultural commodity prices and government concerns about longer-term food and energy security underpin much recent land acquisition for agricultural investments. These processes are expected to have lasting and far-reaching implications for world agriculture and for livelihoods and food security in recipient countries. This paper critically examines evidence of trends, scale, geography and drivers in the global land rush. While this analysis broadly corroborates some widespread assumptions, it also points to a more complex set of drivers that reflect fundamental shifts in economic and geopolitical relations linking sovereign states, global finance, and agribusiness through to local groups. Only a solid understanding of these fundamental drivers can help identify levers ...

The international political economy of the global land rush: A critical appraisal of trends, scale, geography and drivers

Since the 1990s, the scope of research evaluations becomes broader as the societal products outputs, societal use societal references, and societal benefits changes in society of research come into scope. Society can reap the benefits of successful research studies only if the results are converted into marketable and consumable products e.g., medicaments, diagnostic tools, machines, and devices or services. A series of different names have been introduced which refer to the societal impact of research: third stream activities, societal benefits, societal quality, usefulness, public values, knowledge transfer, and societal relevance. What most of these names are concerned with is the assessment of social, cultural, environmental, and economic returns impact and effects from results research output or products research outcome of publicly funded research. This review intends to present existing research on and practices employed in the assessment of societal impact in the form of a literature survey. The objective is for this review to serve as a basis for the development of robust and reliable methods of societal impact measurement.

What is societal impact of research and how can it be assessed? a literature survey

Tropical grassy biomes (TGBs) are globally extensive, provide critical ecosystem services, and influence the earth–atmosphere system. Yet, globally applied biome definitions ignore vegetation characteristics that are critical to their functioning and evolutionary history. Hence, TGB identification is inconsistent and misinterprets the ecological processes governing vegetation structure, with cascading negative consequences for biodiversity. Here, we discuss threats linked to the definition of TGB, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation schemes (REDD+), and enhanced atmospheric CO2, which may facilitate future state shifts. TGB degradation is insidious and less visible than in forested biomes. With human reliance on TGBs and their propensity for woody change, ecology and evolutionary history are fundamental to not only the identification of TGBs, but also their management for future persistence.

Tropical grassy biomes: misunderstood, neglected, and under threat

The recent publication by the McKinsey Global Institute has confronted these seemingly unwelcome and unhealthy viewpoints by promoting an alternative approach in recognising that just as there are Tigers in Asia, the Lions in Africa are on the move. The symbolic message of optimism created by the metaphoric characterisation of a number of African economies as lions on the move is therefore extremely positive. There is much to be gained in being hopeful and optimistic.

Lions on the Move : The Progress and Potential of African Economies, McKinsey Global Institute : book review

This paper is a synthesis of the July 2005 Development Report published by the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Human Sciences Research Council and United Nations Development Programme (DBSA, HSRC and UNDP). The Report asks why, if the origins of economic dualism are rooted in the cheap, forced, migrant labour introduced by the mining industry and reinforced during apartheid, does dualism persist under democracy when all the relevant laws and many of the practices of the past have been abolished? The breakdown of apartheid did not immediately translate into improved material conditions for the majority of South Africans: 300 years of colonialism and 50 of internal colonialism had hard-wired a duality into the system. Two worlds, which may be conceptualised as the first and second economies, coexisted: a globally integrated world of production, exchange and consumption, and a constrained world of informality, poverty and marginalisation. This synthesis sheds light on the origin and nature of the ‘secon...

Overcoming underdevelopment in South Africa's second economy

The third mission encompasses all activities of universities beyond their first and second missions, education and research. An analysis of various countries with different economic, political and geographic features reveals an increased demand for such activities in particular with regard to technology transfer, but also as to the support of the civil society in more general terms. Therefore the universities have to find a new balance between education, research and transfer/extension. However, suitable solutions are often complicated by the orientation of the universities and the policy actors on non-scrutinized paradigms originating in other contexts. The strategies in different countries are embedded in their specific context, making it impossible to determine a best practice. Nonetheless, many interesting approaches can be observed, and mutual learning can be fruitful. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

New activities of universities in transfer and extension: multiple requirements and manifold solutions

The two time-honoured tasks of universities are teaching and research which have long provided society with specific skills and new knowledge and ideas. Expectations have increased exponentially and demands are originating from a much wider range of stakeholders. Universities are now given progressively more important roles in economic expansion, social development, better forms of political organization and governance, plus providing education for more students, and developing and transferring technology to industry. The capacity of universities to respond is insufficient, in both the developed and developing worlds. New models to guide the evolution of universities include the triple helix, the creation of entrepreneurial or specialized universities, large-scale excellence-driven environments or the concept of developmental universities. Most of these ultimately suggest that the universities move towards technology-oriented third missions, thus a closer interaction with enterprises. This special issue of Science and Public Policy explores such issues in 12 countries. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

New challenges for universities beyond education and research

The apartheid state in South Africa was recognized throughout the world as a pariah, especially after the United Nations declared its institutional regime a “crime against humanity.” Many researchers, commentators, and observers regarded apartheid simply as an irrational state whose dysfunctionality made it both unstable and unsupportable (Alexander 1979)

Rasigan Maharajh

Papers

Lions on the Move : The Progress and Potential of African Economies, McKinsey Global Institute : book review

Overcoming underdevelopment in South Africa's second economy

New activities of universities in transfer and extension: multiple requirements and manifold solutions

New challenges for universities beyond education and research

South Africa: Reforming Higher Education and Transforming the National System of Innovation