College of Business and Economics | Annual Report 2024 37 Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), she serves on ASSAf structures including Chair of the Membership Advisory Committee for Humanities and Social Sciences, Vice-Chair of the Science for the Reduction of Policy and Inequality, and Steering Committee on the Just Transition. She is part the team leading the International Economic Association’s Women in Leadership in Economics Initiative (IEA-WE), a multi-year project focused on enhancing the role of women in the global economics profession. Prof Tregenna is affiliated in an honorary capacity with SOAS, University of London; both as a Professorial Research Associate and as a Fellow of the Development Leadership Dialogue. Prof Tregenna delivered numerous major public presentations during 2024, including several international keynote addresses in both the academic and policy domains. RESEARCH ACTIVITIES SARChI-ID produced 35 ROUs in 2024, our highest accredited annual research output thusfar. Our team collectively published 75 journal articles, one book, and several peer-reviewed book chapters. In addition to peer-reviewed research, we continue to publish the SARChI-ID Working Paper series and Policy Brief series. These series were launched in 2021 as a free resource with the aim of disseminating research and stimulating policy debate with a wider audience than would be reached by journal articles and identifying collaborative policy-orientated solutions through new knowledge. Highlights of our various research projects are covered in other sections of this report. INNOVATION, SUSTAINABILITY, AI, AND SOCIETAL IMPACT Sustainability, innovation and the 4IR are central themes across our research, capacity building and public and policy engagement activities. We approach issues of sustainability largely in relation to green industrialisation and green industrial policy: what feasible development pathways can meet the dual objectives of industrialisation and environmental sustainability? Issues of innovation and the 4IR continued to drive themes of several activities during 2024. 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, economic growth, and development. A key focus of our research activities during 2024 was the completion of the project ‘Measurement Framework for the Contribution of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) to Inclusive and Sustainable Socio-Economic Development’, that was commissioned and funded by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI). This research analysed how innovation can contribute to socio-economic development, with a focus on the three main domains prioritised in the Decadal Plan: high-tech industrialisation; energy, and healthcare. We brought in research collaborators from the University of Pretoria, Percept Consultants and Actuaries, Process, Energy and Environmental Station (PEETS) of UJ’s Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, the Green Hydrogen SARChI Chair, and several individual research collaborators. This research yielded 14 outputs with significant relevance for policy, as well as various training and policy engagement activities and high-level presentations of the findings to senior policymakers. Another major research project, The Johannesburg Innovation Survey, aims to address critical gaps in the understanding of innovation activities by small and micro enterprises (MSEs), 5 specifically manufacturing enterprises. This project was initiated by SARChI-ID in 2019 with external funding. The survey is a tri-annual one, with the regularity of data collection essential for valid and robust statistical analysis, and hence the next wave of data collection will be implemented in 2025. In 2024, SARChI-ID received the UJ Global Excellence and Stature 4.0 for Societal Impact grant to contribute to the costs of the third wave in 2025. The African Trade and Industrialisation Observatory (AfTIO), being developed by SARChI-ID in partnership with the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town, aims to provide an open access portal for secondary qualitative data and research papers on trade and industrialisation in Africa. The portal will also serve as a repository for policy documents and research on trade and industrialisation in Africa. This is intended to be of benefit to policymakers, researchers and students.
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