A research report submitted to the Wits Business School in the University of
the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Management in Innovation Studies
Johannesburg, 2015 / Innovation policy is a crucial driver for development, especially in developing countries. Developing countries are characterised by weak and fragmented innovation systems that pose an even greater challenge to integrating innovation policy. The key and most persistent weakness identified in South Africa’s national innovation system has been its lack of vertical and horizontal policy integration and coherence. Regions in South Africa are increasingly becoming active in developing, designing and implementing their own innovation policies. This creates an urgent need for integrating national and regional innovation policies and programmes. The basis for the study was an assessment of the extent of integration between national and regional innovation policies in South Africa and the Gauteng region in particular.
The study employed both a qualitative and quantitative research approach and the methodology applied was content analysis as well as semi-structured interviews with key informants at the national and regional level. While there was no specific innovation framework regarding the question of integration across different regions due to restrictions, this study employed a more general framework utilising the policy studies to investigate this issue. The framework was based on three categories: complementary policy goals, priorities and scope; policy structures and procedures for policy integration; and mechanisms and policy instruments to steer integration.
The findings of the study suggest that there is weak integration between South Africa’s national innovation policy and Gauteng’s regional innovation policy based on the framework selected for analysing policy integration. The finding revealed that there is significant lack of integration between national and regional policy structures and procedures; and mechanisms and policy instruments in promoting innovation policy.
Moreover, the findings showed that South Africa’s national innovation policy is embedded in a linear, narrow path of supply-driven technology and has a top-down perspective approach. Overall, there is an opportunity for South Africa and Gauteng to improve innovation policy integration by prioritising strong leadership and commitment at the political level; establishing specific coordination mechanisms; and improving interactions between national and regional levels through policy
experimentation. To achieve these objectives, functional regions should be targeted and used for improving quality of policy-relevant evidence.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/20844 |
| Date | 10 August 2016 |
| Creators | Raphasha, Portia Idah |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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