Greetings,

“It may be that there will be some who will say that political activism is
not the task of scholarship, that such activism compromises the search for
the truth by those whose profession is to expand the frontiers of
knowledge. To these I would again say that the African condition does not
permit of an African intelligentsia that merely interprets the world, while
doing nothing to change it.”
Thabo Mbeki, Address at The University of West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica,
30 June 2003

The Institute for Economic Research on Innovation (IERI) is based in the
Faculty of Economic Sciences of the Tshwane University of Technology. IERI
does policy research in the political economy of knowledge to promote
sustainable economic growth, social development and political democracy.

IERI provides in-depth analysis of systems of innovation, science and
technology policy and local economic development. It focuses on local,
provincial and national levels within South Africa; and at the regional and
continental level across Africa. Through reports, publications, seminars
and workshops, IERI will engage in debate about policy alternatives for
economic, social and political development.

IERI is a non-profit university-based organisation. Research results will
be placed in the public domain, through the publication of reports, the
submission of articles to both specialised and mass media, and through
participation in seminars, workshops and conferences. IERI provides
information and analysis of value to decision-makers and participants in
science, technology and innovation policy debates, inside and outside
government. The IERI research programme is organised around four broad
themes of Evidence-based Policy Research; Capacity Building; Competency
Development and Knowledge Sharing.

IERI is centrally concerned with Evidence-based Policy Research, which is
premised on scientifically verifiable methods, as the means towards shaping
theory from facts. It thereby ensures that it generates and builds upon
both quantitative and qualitative research into the domains of science and
technology policy, which then contributes towards embracing the democratic
ethics of transparency and accountability.

Capacity Building for IERI is a necessary component in redressing the
apartheid legacy of underdevelopment. The creative and intellectual
strengths of all South African’s are required in the tasks of
reconstruction and development. As such, the target group that IERI is most
concerned with building capacities with are those designated as Black,
Women and the differentially able. IERI offers previously disadvantaged
people access to vital research experience and exposure to the policy
environment through employment in research projects. This will effectively
ensure intergenerational learning whilst also providing incomes to graduate
students from the Faculty of Economic Sciences.

Through this orientation and the creation of these necessary human
resources, IERI will assist the public and private sector to understand,
manipulate and obtain benefits from Knowledge Intensive Products and
Services. It will also play a part in building a professional cadre of
efficient system administrators who are charged with the responsibilities
of ensuring the delivery and implementation of public good benefits.

IERI is committed to Competency Development that derives from coupling
experiential learning with theorising capabilities. The decade of freedom
has expanded the experiential base of policy activists. IERI will provide
an academic setting, which is geared towards providing intellectual tools
to translate these experiences into knowledge products and services. The
challenges of knowledge management have also been intensified by
increasingly trans-disciplinary nature of research and the availability of
material in open sources. Sorting through this ever increasing stock of
information requires active agents imbued with a progressive orientation to
ensure that the selection of policy options reflect upon the aspirations of
the majority. Such an assumption includes a pro-poor and anti-elite stance.

Knowledge Sharing through networking, partnering, alliances and brokerage
will ensure that the research programme of IERI diffuses into society. By
means of appropriate codification, the transmission of the insights
generated by IERI would be shared by collective and individual formations.
IERI will work on commissioned and self-initiated research projects. IERI
will develop these projects in partnership with other knowledge
enterprises, academic institutions, research institutes and civil society
organisations.

IERI will develop and maintain two core data sets. These are a Systemic
Innovation Indicators Database, which includes information at the
enterprise, industrial district, nation-state, regional community, and
continental levels; and a Local Development Indicator Database that targets
cities and towns with an emphasis on service delivery, social organisation,
human mobility and economic development.

Praxis, for IERI, is derived from understanding the evolution of our
current mode of production from its roots in 18th and 19th century
colonialism and its growth and expansion as a global system of production,
commerce and trade across the 20th century. Being conscious of the failure
of neo-classical explanations for this material and social transformation,
allows IERI to be critical of those approaches that characterise the 21st
century as an unproblematic and uncontested knowledge-based social and
economic regime.

The school of evolutionary economics rationalises systems of innovation as
complex and chaotic phenomena, by adopting a neo-Schumpetarian perspective
that explicitly biases towards learning, skills and competencies. IERI’s
attention is therefore devoted to the intellectual analysis of these
observable factors and trends whilst providing a theoretical discourse that
empowers progressive social formations. This knowledge-based perspective
emphasises learning, skills and competencies as core determinants of the
growth and development process.

IERI’s mission is to be established and recognised as an African centre of
excellence in the fields of Policy, Strategy, Implementation, Monitoring
and Evaluation within the domain of innovation systems and networked
through trans-disciplinary competences in economic, social and political
sciences. IERI will participate in the Science and Technology Programmes of
New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NePAD) and will thereby
contribute to the objective of strengthening the African Union.

IERI is structured around Research Fellows, Research Associates and
Research Assistants. The position of Fellows will allow IERI to draw
together African Experts in the fields of Local Development, Methodology
and Policy Research. The Associates will be engaged on the basis of
research programmes and projects, while the Assistants will be
competitively selected from amongst the Faculty’s learners. This latter
category is a form of policy research learnerships.

2004 Staff Listing and Contact Details
Chief Director Rasigan Maharajh
Visiting Research Fellow Prof. Meheret Ayenew
Senior Research Fellow Prof. Mario Scerri
Senior Research Fellow Dr. Rajen Govender
Research Associate Thomas Pogue
Research Associate Lindile Ndabeni
Research Associate Koffi M. Kouakou
Research Assistants Vacancies (x4)
Administrator Vacancy

physical address Tshwane University of Technology, Arcadia Campus, Corner
Nelson Mandela Drive and Church Street, Pretoria.
postal address Private Bag X31, Rosslyn, 0200, Gauteng, South Africa.
website www.tut.ac.za
email [log in to unmask]
phone and facsimile +27828828781

Date 14th September 2004, Tuesday
Venue Prestige Auditorium, Building 21, Tshwane University of Technology
Time 16h00 – 17h30


Registration and Refreshments Faculty of Economic Sciences
Arrival of Minister Department of Science and Technology
Introduction to the Programme Rasigan Maharajh
Welcome and Programme Professor Reggie L Ngcobo
Introduction to Minister Professor M Sibara
Ministers Speech Mosibudi Mangena
Introduction to Prof Muchie Rasigan Maharajh
Speech on African Innovation Systems Professor Mammo Muchie
Introduction to Prof Scerri Rasigan Maharajh
Presentation on IERI Professor Mario Scerri
Minister launches Book and IERI
Introduction to Prof Doherty Rasigan Maharajh
Introduction to the Feedback Project Professor Christo Doherty
Screening of "The Riverbank Scene" TUT Audio Visual
Refreshments TUT