Annual Report 2022

This report features Open AIR researchers’ extensive recent outputs—including books, book chapters, journal articles, reports, policy engagements, conference presentations, and blogs—in five thematic clusters,...

Interim Report 2021

First/Third World COVID-19 Vaccination Divide The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to disrupt Open AIR activities. Certain of our research activities have had to be postponed,...

Innovation and Scaling by Tech Hubs and Their Hosted Startups: Three...

Authored by: Lucienne Abrahams Abstract: This Working Paper sets out a view of the nature of three South African tech hubs, their modes of knowledge...

The African Journal of Information and Communication, Issue 26, 2020

Produced in partnership with Open African Innovation Research (Open AIR), this AJIC Thematic Issue: Collaborative Innovation in African Settings features findings from research conducted by...

Leap 4.0 – African Perspectives on the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The 4IR is well established in many parts of the world, with technological advances driving profound social and economic change. However, for many developing countries, particularly countries in Africa, the 4IR may not offer the anticipated 'leap' forward. This book seeks to identify the challenges and opportunities the 4IR presents to South Africa and the rest of the African continent, especially to workers and marginalised sectors of society.

Science, Technology & Innovation and Intellectual Property

2020 was an eventful year for the whole world, as a public health and economic crisis raged, bringing to the fore the perennial challenge of how to craft and use Intellectual Property (IP) institutions, law, policies and practices, collectively ‘IP frameworks’ to add to efforts to achieve sustainable development, and to consider recovery paths for economies. This coincided with intensified efforts to boost intra-African trade and enhance regional integration through the Agreement on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)and the entry of the US into negotiations for a bilateral FTA with Kenya. This book engages with this challenge in its six chapters.

Annual Report 2020

In 2020 the theme of the Annual Report is “Resilience”. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, Open AIR made significant research progress. Field research was...

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Learning in Ethiopia’s Textile and Garment...

Authored by : Bertha Vallejo and Tadesse Getachew Mekonnen Abstract: Theoretically, foreign direct investment (FDI) favours industrial upgrading by allowing local firms to learn from...

Marginalisation of Indigenous Knowledge in African Education: The Case of Rwandan...

Authored by: Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu, Chidi Oguamanam and Vedaste Ndungutse Abstract: This study explores the use of Indigenous medicinal knowledge by rural Rwandan livestock farmers to treat...

Tensions Related to Openness in Researching Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge Systems and...

Contextualizing Openness: Situating Open Science Edited by Leslie Chan Angela Okune, Rebecca Hillyer, denise Albornoz, and Alejandro Possada Published by Ottawa Press Available online from the IDRC Canada. CHAPTER...