Policy is generally pursued with temporal blinkers – What can we do which builds on what we already have and does not require too great a reframing?

In ‘normal times’ building on the past, adjusting and speeding up, makes sense. But occasionally the world around us changes in non-marginal ways and this demands a structural reset to policy in general and to innovation trajectories in particular.

We are in just such a transitional period now. The mass-production techno-economic paradigm which dominated development strategies over the past 70 years is in crisis. The new ICT paradigm is deploying rapidly. Because it offers both threat and opportunity, imparting directionality is the critical challenge.

Each techno-economic paradigm is not just characterised by its core general-purpose ‘heartland’ technology and the accompanying socio-economic order. It also has associated geopolitics which play a major role in the character of global production and trade. So it is that we are witnessing a significant change in the global order, a transition from a unipolar world dominated by western powers to a world of multipolar hegemony, with China, India and other Asian economies playing increasingly important roles in framing directionality and innovation paths.

In this context, what are the implications for more sustainable and equitable growth strategies in Africa

Keynote speaker

Prof. Raphael Kaplinsky

Raphael Kaplinsky is Honorary Professor at the Science Policy Research Unit, and is also an Emeritus Professor at the Institute of Development Studies and at the Open University. His primary research interests are in Globalisation, Global Value Chains, Inclusive Growth and Inclusive Innovation, the Terms of Trade and the Impact of the Rising Powers (particularly China) on Sub Saharan Africa, publishing extensively in all of these fields. Over the past four decades he has worked with policy makers, the private sector, trades unions and civil society groups. Since his formal retirement at the end of 2014, he has begun working on the green economy and urban regeneration in Newhaven and Lewes (towns close to Sussex University), and in Greece.

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