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Research and experimental development (R&D) is an important driver of economic growth and productivity. Gross expenditure on domestic R&D (GERD) is a country's total expenditure on R&D performed by all sectors of the economy. South Africa's GERD as a percentage of its GDP (GERD/GDP) remains below government targets and has stagnated over the past decade, largely due to declining business sector R&D. This paper aims to identify the drivers of firm-level R&D intensity, defined as the firm's R&D expenditure as a percentage of turnover. It is the first South African study to examine both micro- and macro-economic drivers of firm R&D, with a paucity of literature on this topic for middle-income countries. Using the South African National R&D Survey data, the study utilized the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) model and found that public financial support for firms, smaller firm-size, firm-level collaboration, political stability, foreign direct investment, and public R&D investment are positively associated with firm R&D intensity. The results highlight the importance of public financial support for smaller firms and investments in higher education and research institutions in promoting firm-level R&D, thereby providing useful policy insights for boosting business sector and economy-wide R&D expenditure and reaching national GERD/GDP targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firm-level innovation in sub-Saharan Africa remains under-researched. To address this gap, this paper examines the obstacles to innovation faced by small, micro, and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa. Using the 2018 Business Innovation Survey, we apply the double-hurdle model to investigate factors determining a firm's decision to invest, and the intensity of innovation. Our results show that cost and institutional obstacles were significantly more important as disincentive factors for medium-sized enterprises while knowledge obstacles were significant disincentive factors for large enterprises. In addition, market obstacles hampered investment among large enterprises. Interestingly, none of these factors was found to deter innovation intensity among small and micro enterprises. The study findings suggest that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to innovation policy and intervention programmes to support innovation within firms of different sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology-based interventions in healthcare are often anticipated to improve the quality of healthcare services. These expectations are based on a perceived belief in the ability of technology to alleviate some of the challenges associated with manual, paper-based healthcare service delivery. As a result, the drive to implement healthcare technology has gained significant traction in recent years. Unfortunately, the implementation efforts of most health-related technologies have been tainted with several challenges such as fragmentation, lack of interoperability, and co-ordination. As a result, data management and health-related information dissemination across various levels of healthcare systems have been jeopardized. The objective of this study is to identify context-based factors that influence healthcare information systems (IS) implementation in resource-constrained public hospitals. The emphasis is on the public healthcare landscape in South Africa. A qualitative methodological approach was employed. Semi-structured interviews with purposively sampled participants in a public healthcare hospital provided primary data. The findings indicate that factors such as implementation of policies, planning and support strategies, and analysis of healthcare IS's fitness for purpose in healthcare workflows processes influence successful healthcare IS implementation. Addressing these factors is critical if public healthcare hospitals are to realise fully the transformative potential of technology-based interventions. The contributions made in this paper may be useful to the relevant government bodies, policymakers and other stakeholders interested in advancing adequate healthcare service delivery using healthcare IS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South African bioeconomy strategy did not clearly articulate the measurement framework to monitor the implementation of the strategy. This paper provides an analysis of bioeconomy patents, the most prolific organizations and citations at the EPO and USPTO for South Africa, BRICS, Egypt and Nigeria during the Ten-Year Innovation Plan 2008–2018. The terms 'biotechnology', 'medical technology', 'pharmaceuticals' and 'selected environment-related technologies' were used to search for patents. The OECD patents by technology, the EPO PATSTAT and the USPTO PatFT databases were used to map patents and citations. The results show that South Africa ranked last in the BRICS group but produced a higher number of patents than Egypt and Nigeria. The number of patents generally decreased for the selected countries except for China. The total citations for the selected countries was generally inconsistent. The important innovators for South Africa in the bioeconomy are mainly universities and public research institutions. A new fiscal approach to encourage knowledge application in bioeconomy in South Africa is required. Incentives from government that encourage collaboration between research institutions and industry to direct research with industry application are required. The study contributes to the development of metrics to monitor the bioeconomy in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persistent poverty is a major developmental challenge for South Africa and has multifaceted dimensions. This paper profiled and investigated poverty transitions among rural households in 22 district municipalities in South Africa. Foster-Greer-Thorbecke indices were applied to panel data from the National Income Dynamics Study from 2008 to 2017. Findings indicate that poverty levels varied across districts and poverty was most prevalent in Zululand, OR Tambo and Sisonke districts. Furthermore, districts with high poverty rates also had high poverty gap ratios. Poverty transition analyses revealed that in 82% of the districts, poverty declined between 2008 and 2017, while it increased in 13% of the districts. This transition was not mirrored between waves, with the majority of households remaining in the same poverty status between waves. The study recommends that these traditional rural districts be a major focus of poverty alleviation efforts. The role of the state in providing stability to combat poverty is encouraged through promotion of higher education. Additionally, support for agriculture as a business is also recommended. Collaborations between district municipalities and provincial departments of agriculture could facilitate this. The study adds to existing literature by providing insights from disaggregated profile and analysis of rural poverty in district municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the university, industry and government (UIG) research and development (R&D) collaborations that academia in South African higher education institutions (HEIs) with clothing-related programmes engage in. In the research on which the paper is based, Fashion, Consumer Science, Textiles and Clothing Management academia were purposively sampled to gather data regarding the UIG R&D collaborations. Data collection was conducted through an online questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were employed to analyze data and present results in figures and graphs. Findings show that majority surveyed academia had never been involved in UIG R&D collaborations with any government levels, the clothing, textiles, leather and footwear (CTLF) industry or other clothing related organizations. The paper concludes that the ability of surveyed academia to produce 'relevant' new knowledge may be limited due to under developed UIG R&D collaborations. The likelihood of the surveyed clothing-related programmes producing graduates with 'relevant skills' for a changing world may also be negatively impacted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an environment of changing customer needs, technological advancement and digitization, the importance of business model innovation in supporting companies to accrue benefits from increased digitization while counteracting threats has intensified. Factors driving business model innovation could be of value in facilitating business model innovation success and accrue benefits from increasing digitization. As the factors driving business model innovation are often triggers for the next cycle, however, there is limited empirical research on factors driving business model innovation. This paper presents empirical findings on factors driving business model innovation using unstructured interviews with nine executives from five sample companies in South Africa. Main finding from the research indicate that both external and internal factors such as existential crises, serve as valuable triggers for business model innovation. Furthermore, entrepreneurial inspirational leadership and quality of staff are important conditions for business model innovation success. The study findings imply that both companies and policymakers who seek to facilitate innovation need to take into account the impact of the business model innovation triggers on business model innovation success. The main contribution of the paper is the empirical finding on factors driving business model innovation using as a lens the sample case study companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores South African manufacturing of medical devices, focusing on firms' acquisition of imported and domestic technologies through technology transfer and their related absorptive capacity. Using an exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach, this paper demonstrates that technology transfer does occur in the medical device industry in South Africa, and that the absorptive capacity displayed by firms in the industry is sufficient to facilitate technology transfer. The results of the analysis suggest that there is room for policymakers to create and promote sectoral coherence and to coordinate the various stakeholders for the industry to grow. This study contributes to the scarce literature on technology transfer in the medical device industry in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the effect of the sharp reallocation of business R&D expenditure from experimental research to applied research, since the global financial crisis, on the productivity of the South African national system of innovation (NSI). Business R&D expenditure declined sharply, without reversal, which suggests structural change. The paper applies linear regression models to data on trademarks and patents obtained from the World Intellectual Property Office and business R&D expenditure obtained from the Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa, for the period 2004-2018. The paper finds that reallocation of R&D expenditure from experimental to applied research had detrimental effects on the productivity of the NSI. Counterfactually, reallocation of R&D spending from experimental research to basic research had positive effects on innovation performance. The paper also establishes structural change in the innovation-business R&D spending regime. Policymakers, through tax incentives and nudging, should incentivise reallocation of business R&D spending towards basic research, while adjusting downwards the allocation to experimental and applied research until they reach their optimal levels. Discovery of structural change in the innovation-business R&D expenditure regime, the identification of sub-optimality in business R&D spending allocation, and identifying distorted incentive structures, all bring new knowledge to scholarship on the national system of innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance and benefits of measuring innovation in businesses, standard methods for innovation measurement, such as the Oslo Manual, largely exclude the agricultural sector. As a result, innovation scholars in developing countries struggle to develop knowledge to understand innovation in agricultural businesses. This paper proposes a conceptual framework to guide research on the measurement of innovation in the agricultural sector in developing countries, focusing initially on commercial agricultural businesses. The proposed framework provides an analytical reference point with detailed methodological guidelines for scholars and practitioners of innovation studies who wish to understand the complexities and dynamics of innovation in commercial agricultural businesses (including forestry and fishery businesses). A practical example, based on an empirical study that used this framework to measure innovation in South Africa's agricultural sector, illustrates how it can be put into practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business incubation is a growing phenomenon in South Africa. Using a qualitative research approach, specifically in-depth interviews with business incubator (BI) managers (CEOs, directors, executives, founders, and sponsors), this study reports on the perceived economic value of Johannesburg-based, fintech-focused BIs and the business gains achieved from the activities of BIs. Applying theory related to business incubation, this paper finds that business incubation is equally about assisting and developing start-ups and entrepreneurs as it is about the business gains that BIs extract from the process. Moreover, private sector stakeholders, particularly banks, are perceived as the primary sponsors of fintech BIs in South Africa, and they invest for various business and socio-economic reasons. Foremost among these is business diversification and compliance with South Africa's affirmative action policies, which feature prominently as the primary benefits the banking BIs gain from the process. We discuss this as the positive duality of business incubation. Finally, we suggest several managerial and policy level implications related to our findings, including the importance of strengthening triple helix partnerships and using regulatory sandboxing to facilitate fintech innovations. Overall, this study contributes to our empirical understanding of BIs in emerging economies broadly and fintech-focused BIs in South Africa in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New technologies are playing a fundamental role in the postmodern era of globalization where interpersonal interactions at the international level and the exchange of goods, services, information and capital are the basis of all activities. The agriculture sector is constantly facing numerous challenges including the steady growth of the population, climate change, the increasing number of catastrophes, the loss of biodiversity and the spread of parasites. This paper analyzes the impacts of Blockchain applications in agriculture and the food supply chain, through a survey literature review, providing the various players in the agriculture value chain with new tools and key technologies to improve production and distribution processes. To demonstrate the importance of applying the Blockchain in the agriculture sector, especially for emerging countries, the case of South Africa is examined. This focus is one of the unique aspects of this paper, which is the first to deal with this kind of solution applied to the South African context. Our findings indicate that Blockchain, in the e-agricultural context, has the potential for reshaping the entire sector, contributing also to the resolution of the food crisis. This paper discusses the overall implications, limits, challenges and potentials of these applications, from a critical point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing the gender gap in poverty remains a priority for South African policymakers. Using the 2018 General Households Survey (GHS), this paper examines gendered multidimensional poverty in post-apartheid South Africa. The analyses draw on Alkire-Foster multidimensional poverty methodology to present multidimensional poverty measures for men and women. The dimensions and indicators used in this paper are slightly adapted to reflect the socioeconomic realities and circumstances that are unique to South African households and individuals. The results show a persistence in multidimensional poverty among women, as the magnitudes of multidimensional poverty measures remain higher for women than for men. Further findings show that the economic activity and health dimensions contribute substantially to poverty among men and women. Notably, contributions of unemployment and the presence of chronic disease(s) indicators for gendered multidimensional poverty are more considerable for women than for men. In order to further reduce gendered poverty, this paper recommends strengthening a social policy review that strongly promotes more job creation, health-enhancing interventions and potent 'gender sensitive' ideologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early stage of business, which is where most new ventures fail, many entrepreneurs experience discrepancies between their entrepreneurial expectations and business realities. These discrepancies referred to by this paper as an entrepreneurial gap (EG) are, therefore, among other factors, professed to be responsible for the high attrition rate of emerging ventures in South Africa. An oversight in this area of EG, despite the provision of most required resources, may still lead to business failure. This paper argues that there is more yet to be comprehended regarding early-stage business success, concerning the entrepreneur component. The purpose of this paper was to recognize and classify factors responsible for establishing entrepreneurial gaps with the intent to improve the level of preparedness among emerging entrepreneurs. A qualitative approach with in-depth interviews was employed in the data collection. ATLAS ti 8 was used to unpack factors that instigate entrepreneurial gaps while posing challenges to emerging entrepreneurs in the early stage of business. The groups identified were: entrepreneur management, familism and personal management. The findings provide information that is credible to improving the level of preparedness among emerging entrepreneurs, and could be used by mentors, coaches and relevant support structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Post-Apartheid South African Government has produced three white papers (1996–2008), (2008–2018) and (2018–2028) on science technology and innovation for national development. In all these policy documents, science and technology-based industries are considered as priority areas in socioeconomic development. Using the Technological Capability (TC) framework, this paper is an attempt to assess South Africa's national TC, using patent data from the WIPO Patentscope database. Patents granted to South African applicants or inventors are considered to measure the TC of South Africa. Data show that in recent years there has certainly been an increase in patenting activity in South African industries and other sectors. However, a clear and significant trend in patents is yet to emerge. Based on the IPC codes, most patents were granted in A61K (566 patents) and G06Q (518 patents). The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa (170 patents) is the most prolific institute followed by the University of Cape Town (148 patents). Although the number of joint patents is limited, the growth in their numbers in recent years shows an increase in collaboration activity among different actors. The University of Cape Town is the most active among the South African institutes in terms of collaborations. The study concludes with policy lessons relevant to the South African context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa is one of the countries in Africa that has a high COVID-19 virus infection rate. The government of South Africa introduced the COVID Alert SA App, a contact tracing mobile application (App), to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus. This paper reports on the challenges users experienced when using the COVID Alert SA App. Using the design-reality gap model, the study analyzed online user reviews of the App and government reports. The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis to highlight insights on the challenges of using the COVID Alert SA App. The findings indicate that public awareness was a major limitation of the App, amongst others, including a lack of trust relating to privacy and security when using the App, and a lack of technical support. The insights can be useful for developers, researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to improve the adoption and use of the contact tracing App to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of innovation on productivity in the services sector firms in South Africa. Using a three-stage econometric model we find that service sector firms are innovative. We show that firm size, public financial support, patent protection and market sources of information have a positive impact on the decision to innovate. The level of investment in innovation significantly influences the success of both technological and non-technological innovations in service sector firms. The results find that both technological and non-technological innovations have a positive impact on labour productivity, with a greater impact from non-technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper was to analyze factors affecting domestic water consumption in Thohoyandou, Limpopo province, South Africa. A structured questionnaire was used to collect qualitative and quantitative data in the study area. A total sample of 100 households participated in answering the questionnaire. The results of the analysis found that average bath water consumption was 122 l/c/d, toilet flushing was 26 l/c/d, drinking and food preparation was 20 l/c/d, washing clothes was 5 l/c/d, washing cars was 2.5 l/c/d and home gardening was 6 l/c/d. The average water consumption of one household in the area was 190 l/c/d. Factors influencing water consumption in Thohoyandou were: education level of household head, age of household head, occupation of household head, gender of household head, family size, and tariff. SPSS performed correlation matrix and it was used to analyze factors affecting water consumption. Correlation matrix results showed that education level of household head was −0.627**, family size was 0.947**, tariff was 0.533**, female household heads was 0.647**, male household heads was (−0.634**), and age of household heads was (0.372**). Education level of household head results showed a negative correlation in all sub areas. The consequences of having more household heads with a low level of education was high water consumption, which is not in line with the Water Conservation Act. The contribution of the research was that household heads who have a high level of education typically consume less water than household heads who have a low level of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa's poor economic performance in recent years has prompted calls by policymakers for structural transformation. To break the impasse, a stronger focus on innovation is one strategy the country has articulated through a new White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation. Writing from this policy context, we adapt the revised contingent effectiveness model of technology transfer by including indigenous knowledge as a transfer object and emphasizes citizen needs and reparations as part of the demand environment, and appropriation as a transfer medium. Analytically, our use of this adaptation is to critically reflect on the typology of indicators produced in the first South African national survey of intellectual property and technology transfer at publicly financed research institutions. We find the dimension of least representation but presumably greatest significance in the typology is that of 'public value'. Our contention is that the output-based and commercially-biased indicators of technology transfer activity, which predominate in the typology, are insufficient to inform decision-making on technology transfer policy in a context of profound national socio-economic challenges and deep historical legacies of indigenous knowledge misappropriation. Broader evaluation data would form a richer, more inclusive evidence-base to inform new investments, as well as ongoing policy assessment, at both institutional and national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agro-processing sub-sector of the manufacturing industry has high recognition on the South African government's development agenda. Yet, the contribution of the sector to the economy with respect to the foreign trade earning appears to be low in comparison to its potential and counterparts in the developed world. The objective of this study is to analyze the South African agro-processing sub-sector of the manufacturing industry trade performance in global value chains perspective and identify the potential policy recommendations to improve the sector benefit. The paper also gives an overview of South Africa's agro-processing sector global value chains participation and the benefits from this in the form of value-added trade earning through backward linkages. The study used secondary data derived from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA); International Trade Center, COMTRADE; and Quantec EasyData (2017) and focused only on the agro-processing sector defined as food, beverage, and tobacco. The study results in general show that in each specific period the growth in real export and import values of agro-processing sub-sector of manufacturing industries has a decreasing trend with few exceptions. The results also indicate that South Africa has relatively low shares of foreign value-added products in its exports of food, beverages, and tobacco products in the agro-processing sub-sector of manufacturing industries goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public participation has been found, in prior related studies, as a way of demonstrating impartiality and ensuring inclusivity. In developed countries, governments ensure public participation using e-petitions. This study focused on determining municipal residents' perceptions of the electronic petition system ahead of its execution in City of Tshwane municipality. City of Tshwane is one of the largest municipalities in South Africa. The study relied on collecting quantitative data and thus it falls within the positivism paradigm. Quantitative data were collected via questionnaires involving n = 150 residents in City of Tshwane municipality. Descriptive statistics were performed to analyze the profiles of participants and then a factor analysis using varimax rotation was performed to identify the resultant factors. The results show that residents are ready for the e-petition system, optimistic about this contemporary initiative as a means of managing problems in their municipal area, and have confidence in the anticipated efficacy of e-petitions. It concludes that the e-petition system may be effective when used along with the traditional paper petition system. Moreover, it raises insights for policymakers, municipal management and government, and makes suggestions for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper is a result of a comprehensive survey conducted in Further Education Training Colleges (FETC) providing educational services to South Africans residing in the various regions of Gauteng Province in South Africa. The main theme of the research was barriers that undermine service quality in teaching and learning in FETC institutions. The principal stakeholders of the study are educational leaders and administrators who sit on board councils in FETC institutions. Leadership quality in FETC institutions was measured and quantified by using a benchmark introduced by Northouse [2018. Leadership: Theory and Practice. Sage publications]. Ordered logit analysis was used for estimating and quantifying key predictors of service quality in teaching and learning as well as the efficient management of FETC institutions. Findings of the survey revealed that there is a need for elements of good institutional leadership. Examples of desirable attributes of leadership are honesty, personal integrity, accountability and transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock production is the primary source of livelihood for most farmers in Mpumalanga province. Small-scale farmers in the province are facing many challenges in the course of marketing livestock. These challenges have also hindered their efforts at improving their livelihood and economic well-being. This paper analyzed the effect of market access on marketing inefficiency in Mpumalanga with a view to developing some policy recommendations. Structured questionnaires were administered to 300 livestock farmers that were selected using stratified random sampling. The data were analyzed with two-stage least square regression. The results showed that marketing inefficiency was significantly influenced by market access, livestock composition and access to good roads. It was concluded that in order to reduce marketing inefficiency, it is paramount to improve the rural road network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa's general election of 2019 posed many challenges, some of which threatened the credibility of its result, and the entire election process. Some of the challenges were multiple voting, many hours of queuing, which led to fatigue, and a significant decline in the number of voters owing to the limited timeframe. These factors heighten the need for m-voting as an alternative or complementary method of voting in the country. Owing to similar challenges, many studies have been conducted, which consequently focused on development and strengthening of security features of e-voting and m-voting applications. However, many countries, including South Africa are not deploying the applications because of their complex nature, such as not being able to trace and track its components. The complexity is attributed to the lack of an architecture framework. This paper presents a technical architecture framework, to support and guide the development and implementation of m-voting applications, to possibly eradicate complexity and enhance the electoral process in South Africa. The outcome of this study was based on findings from analysis of existing materials and semi-structured interviews, in which the hermeneutics approach was employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The newly elected South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, set an ambitious objective to attract US$100 billion Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for South Africa's sustainable socio-economic development. This paper determines differential factors that influence the flow of FDI into South Africa. The objective of this study is to assess factors that affect the flow of FDI into South Africa. Data analysis is performed from the 217 foreign exchange practitioners, registered and working at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in South Africa by performing both ordered logit and Bayesian analyses. Our results showed that the following are the most important FDI determinants factors: (1) the provision of economic incentives; (2) trade regulation and policies; and (3) high expectations of economic return on investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa has rich energy resources but continues to remain an energy poor continent. The industrialization potential of the continent and its rapidly growing population have caused a sharp increase in demand for electricity. South Africa and Nigeria are the biggest economies in Africa with large appetites for energy. South Africa, using its vastly developed and industrial economy, produces about 50 GWe of electricity, the highest of any African country. In contrast, Nigeria produces far less for a population four times the size of its African economic rival, South Africa. Without solving the energy deficit, neither economic growth nor sustainable development and improvement of citizens' welfare will be possible. An effective way to solve the energy shortage may be the introduction of nuclear power plants. Nuclear power is not only able to overcome the electricity deficit in African countries, but can also contribute to a soft transition from environmentally polluting fossil-fuelled power plants to carbon-free technologies. However, for various reasons, there is strong opposition to nuclear energy development in these countries. This paper seeks to answer the question of whether the construction of nuclear power plants in Africa is the optimal solution to the continent's acute energy deficit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa's democracy in 1994 triggered the promotion of socio-economic development in the public sector, with specific emphasis on improving infrastructure and bridging the information Technology (IT) skills gap. In this paper, the factors that influence the retention of competent IT resources for the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) are examined. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) is the underlying theoretical framework. A case study approach is employed as a suitable qualitative research design to investigate contemporary occurrences in real-life settings for exploratory and theory-building research. Empirical insights, regarding excessive power accumulation, lack of accountability, and skills imbalance, in state enterprises, are provided to manage IT infrastructure, effectively. The authors assert that reliance on consultants, promotes opportunistic bargaining that could be detrimental to the government's strategy to retain skilled IT resources. The results reveal that recruiting and retaining appropriately skilled IT professionals, would address challenges of information asymmetry in the SITA, and facilitate the building of a strong professional network to manage the state enterprises' IT platforms. The analyzed data emanate from the minutes of meetings, as well as published media sources, and validated by the project's respondents. One limitation is that the stakeholders did not disclose all the facts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature revealed that 70–80% of South African small businesses, including informal micro-enterprises, fail in the first year of their existence. Innovation has been recognized as a catalyst that can enhance informal micro-enterprises' probabilities to survive and transform them from survivalists to sustainable businesses that grow the economy and create jobs. As far as it can be reasonably determined, there has not been a systematic review of the literature on innovation activities of informal micro-enterprises in the Gauteng province, South Africa. This study aims to present a systematic review of the literature, as well as research gaps identified in the literature, and future research opportunities. This paper thus systematically reviews the literature on innovation activities of informal micro-enterprises in the Gauteng province. The study revealed that the innovation capacity of informal micro-enterprises is severely hampered by innovation tradition and social tax. Subsequently, informal micro-enterprises engage less in innovation activity and those that do innovate often engage in incremental rather than radical innovation. Radical innovations are more crucial than incremental innovations. Thus, there is a need for researchers and government organizations to establish initiatives that can aid the informal micro-enterprises to engage more in radical innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open government has come to be closely associated with innovation for inclusive development (IID). These two areas of practice and research have converged around similar mechanisms aimed at achieving inclusive development outcomes including: open interaction between government, technologists and end-users in the design of policies and services; open, market-oriented approaches to delivering public services and meeting the needs of citizens; and a central role for information and communication technologies (ICTs) in policy development and innovation activities. We argue, however, that an uncritical adoption of open, ICT-oriented practices risks shifting responsibility and trust for governance and development outcomes to largely unaccountable global and national network enterprises. Taking South Africa as our primary focus, including its new White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), we note a renewed interest in adopting open government practices in relation to IID. More significant, we suggest, is the emergence of 'grassroots', hybrid civic-technology innovation networks at the fringes of formal open government initiatives. This article considers new questions that arise around how these grassroots movements sustain meaningful interaction with mainstream STI processes, how public officials may engage with such movements in order to meet national development outcomes, and the role of ICT in these spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The moringa tree is a rising star in South Africa where it is increasingly playing a variety of social and economic roles, especially among the rural poor. Also known as the horseradish tree, moringa has been referred to as the miracle or magic tree because of its reported health, nutrition and some industrial applications. Through document review, this paper reviews these claims that include the treatment of cancer and diabetes, and its nutritional value to humans, livestock and crops plants, among other applications. Drawing from lessons in the commercialization of Rooibos and cannabis cases, the article highlights learning points that could aid South Africa identify and commercialize some aspects of the moringa as part of its economic development efforts and creating the envisaged knowledge economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]