College of Business and Economics | Annual Report 2023 45 firm-level primary research into digitalisation in the skills landscape, and dynamics of 4IR technology in manufacturing. SUSTAINABILITY, INNOVATION AND THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (4IR) Sustainability, innovation and the 4IR are central themes for many of our activities across research, capacity building and public and policy engagement. Our focus in terms of sustainability is around green industrialisation and green industrial policy: development pathways must meet the dual objectives of industrialisation and environmental sustainability. Innovation and the 4IR have been the explicit concern of a number of activities during 2023. Many of these initiatives engage with the relationships between innovation, technological upgrading, and industrial development; and with the patterns, possibilities, and prospects of 4IR technologies for industrialisation, growth, and development. One of our major research projects has focused on a measurement framework for the potential contribution to be made by health innovation, energy innovation and a re-industrialised modern economy to inclusive and sustainable socioeconomic development. This research was funded through a large grant from the DSI. Innovation and capabilities in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries were also the focus of the colloquium we hosted during the year. Presentations and discussions explored potential policy implications of recent innovations in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries for the improvement of healthcare practices and the enhancement of public health outcomes in developing countries. Another major research project, funded by GIZ and led by our Visiting Professor Padmashree Gehl Sampath, aimed to support vaccine production in Africa by promoting a network of centres of excellence in the region, focused on evidencebased research and capacity building on technology gaps and the means to address these. Through the project, a collaboration agreement was established with the EAC Regional Centre of Excellence for Vaccines, Immunisation and Health Supply Chain Management at the University of Rwanda, and a memorandum of understanding aimed at supporting the technical assistance and training to African firms and governments on technology licensing, indemnity and market creation established with the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative. Research in 2023 into the dynamics of the fourth industrial revolution technology and the way that technology is being adapted built on the foundations of primary research surveys that were conducted at firm level in 2021 and 2022. Data for the agricultural sector was added to that collected from firms in the airline, pharmaceutical, and clothing and textiles industries. NATIONAL AND GLOBAL FOOTPRINT Our national and global footprints have continued to expand and consolidate during 2023. Many of the research, engagement and capacity building activities mentioned above also contributed to our and UJ’s national and international footprint. The healthcare colloquium previously mentioned is significant in this regard. In collaboration with the Young Scholars Initiative, we were again the lead organiser of the ‘Third Young Scholars Conference on Structural Change and Industrial Policy in Africa’. This event was held over two days, in a hybrid format. The conference opened with a keynote address from one of the leading global scholars in the field, Prof Ha-Joon Chang (SOAS, University of London). Satellite conference venues in Canada, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, the Netherlands and South Africa provided attendants the option to participate in the virtual conference as groups of peers interested in the conference themes. Presentations (25) were made by scholars from countries across Africa, as well as from scholars based in Europe, United States of America and Asia who are conducting research on Africa. This conference has become one of our flagship events, which contributes to capacity-building, knowledge and skills transfer, and networking across Africa and beyond. The third workshop in the series presented through the Africa Industrial Policy in the 21st Century (AIP21) collaborative research network took place at the African Centre for Economic Transformation in Ghana in May 2023. This builds on the colloquium on green industrialisation that we had hosted a few months earlier. These workshops have promoted knowledge exchange between research partners of the AIP-21, facilitated networks and collaborations, promoted dissemination and outreach of research results, and outlined a new research agenda in view of developing new thinking for a green and resilient industrial policy in Africa for the 21st century. A group of staff, postdocs and students from SARChI-
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