Meet Open AIR’s New and Emerging Researchers Group (NERG)
First Stop, the American University in Cairo
By the AUC New and Emerging Research Group and Meika Ellis
Under the masterful guidance of our North African...
Integrating Gender Perspectives into African Innovation Research
Gender inequality remains the reality in every country. Including and targeting women and girls in development greatly increases the likelihood of an initiative’s success.
Beyond the Poster Boy of the Maker Movement
Some people tour Europe’s finest vineyards others tour Australia’s sweetest surf spots—I tour South Africa’s pioneer makerspaces; part of the growing global maker movement. The movement is a culmination of people becoming “makers” (someone who uses their personal abilities to create anything from mechanical or electrical to visual or musical) and spaces becoming makerspaces (an interdisciplinary area stimulating people to create by providing resources and idea sharing).
Le réseau Open AIR, phare de l’innovation inclusive en Afrique, est décoré...
C’est dans un contexte réglementaire favorable à l’innovation qu’on peut trouver les solutions aux problèmes sociaux les plus pressants. Mentionnons à titre d’exemples la...
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...
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...
Researching Maker Communities and Socio-economic Inclusion
By Chris Armstrong
As part of our Maker Movement research theme, we at Open AIR are trying to build understanding of how participation in...
Makerspaces and Creativity
Looking back at Open AIR’s ‘Making’ Innovation Happen roundtable
By Sean Boots
In mid August, Open AIR hosted a roundtable discussion on makerspaces and innovation hubs in...
Better metrics, better policies for knowledge and innovation in Africa
By Nagla Rizk
The Access to Knowledge for Development Center (A2K4D) leads the research on metrics, laws and policies within the Open African Innovation Research network...
Skills Development and Innovation at Suame Magazine, Ghana
Funded by the Open AIR network, my case study is about skills development and innovation at Ghana’s Suame Magazine Industrial Cluster. The research I am conducting seeks to understand the processes and systems that contribute to how knowledge is or is not shared and how skills are acquired in one of West Africa’s largest informal sector industrial clusters, Suame Magazine. How skills are learned and what is communicated between those in the industrial cluster will help us to learn how innovations are shared and taught among these informal businesses.













