Upcoming research into informal entrepreneurs
Our Open AIR researcher Dr. Erika Kraemer-Mbula is continuing her exciting research in South Africa about informal sector entrepreneurs.
Informal entrepreneurship is receiving increasing scholarly and political attention in Africa. The continent’s booming youth population calls for an unprecedented need to create income and livelihood opportunities. Besides the traditional focus on formalisation, there is a growing interest in understanding the creative processes and innovations occurring in informal enterprises. However, evidence remains scarce, and research on informal enterprises still represents a relatively new and unexplored frontier.
Life under COVID-19 for micro and small enterprises in Africa: a...
By Bertha Vallejo and Erika Kraemer-Mbula
Dr. Bertha Vallejo is an OpenAIR QES fellow with the University of Johannesburg. She analyzes the adoption of Industry...
Open AIR’s Sileshi Hirko wins competitive grant
Mr. Sileshi Hirko, a PhD candidate in the Common Law Section of the University of Ottawa, has won the Civil Society Scholars Award (CSSA)....
7 Ways that African States are Legitimizing Artificial Intelligence
By Jake Okechukwu Effoduh
Several reports on States’ adoption of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) across the world have indicated that African countries have a “slow” or...
Common Misconceptions of Patents in Egypt
Earlier this year, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held a two-day workshop on “Supporting Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Use the Intellectual Property System in Their Competitive Strategy” at the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology in Cairo, Egypt, which some of our Open AIR NERG members attended. The goal of this meeting was to discuss how to encourage young innovators to protect their inventions by patenting them at the Egyptian Patent Office. The workshop had vibrant and sometimes heated discussions between these innovators and government officials regarding many of the obstacles faced in the patenting process in Egypt.
IP, Gender, and South Africa: a Student’s Visit to Open AIR’s...
By Akkila Thirukesan
This blog is part one of a series into Akkila’s during her visit to Open AIR’s South Africa hub – the...
Women in Gungun Share their Experiences in Pottery Making
By Mnena Abuku
Pottery
is an ancient art in Nigeria and is practiced in different parts of the
country. It has high value for the tourism industry...
Climate Change Injustice: Technology, Innovation and the Politics of Climate Change
By Olanrewaju A. Fagbohun, Ph.D, SAN
In charting a future course where the goal is about equitable and democratic end to fossil fuel production, we...
Depicting Reality in the African Context
By Menna Badreldin
It is challenging to quantify a phenomenon in the same method across countries. Indices are generally a tool to represent a certain...
Harnessing Digital Agriculture to Advance African Food Security: Open AIR Research...
By Uchenna Felicia Ugwu
Achieving global food security will require innovation. Processes like plant phenotyping and technologies like digital imaging are examples of innovation that...












