AC/DC
Building African Capacities for the Development of Clusters
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AC/DC – Building African Capacities for the Development of Clusters
German Title: AC/DC - Kompetenzaufbau in Afrika für die Entwicklung von Clustern
Description
The project aims to build capacities at the University of the Free State (UFS) in order to found, build and develop new cluster structures and to support, advise and promote these structures in later network structures. At the same time theories on cluster formation and development as well as approaches used for cluster management are revised based on experiences in the global south – since upto now most approaches built-up experiences in highly industrialized countries.
The core aims of the AC/DC project are the following:
- Capacity building at the University of the Free State (UFS) to foster innovation and economic growth by
- being active themselves as cluster or network managers
- being active as consultants for clusters / networks in South Africa and in neighboring regions
- being active as consultants for local and national policy makers on how to develop cluster policies
- Providing the gatekeeper function for firms which aim at receiving a knowledge transfer from UFS
- Capacity building at the FSU (Jena, Germany) to pursue research and consultancy on clusters and networks in the global south
- Promotion of contacts between South African clusters and German clusters
The main building blocks consists of the development of a curriculum with input from Germany and South Africa, organization of seminar series (4 weeks in total), establishment of virtual seminar platform / website, organization of a job shadowing program and finally the application of the acquired competencies to cluster managements and policy makers in South Africa.
Partners
The project is conducted and coordinated by researchers from the Chair of Microeconomics, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena (FSU Jena). The principal investigators in South Africa at the University of the Free State are Johan van Niekerk and Karen Booysen. The technopolis group Germany is a subcontractor in the project supporting with their knowledge on cluster managements approaches and competencies in cluster formation in Africa.
- Karen Booysen (linkExternal link)
- Johan van Niekerk (linkExternal link)
- Technopolis Group (linkExternal link)
Research context and project goal
In particular, multilateral collaboration is considered as key to increase transfers and, thus, commercialization activities. However, additional approaches that measure these activities themselves as well as their impact on the economy are needed. Specifically, the measurement of non-codified knowledge and societal impact requires further research. This project quantifies the transfer activities between the actors involved in the four investigated channels.
Team (Chair of Microeconomics – FSU Jena)
Prof. Dr. Dirk Fornahl, PD Dr. Holger Graf, Matthias Hügel
Duration
2021-2022
Funding
AC/DC is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBFExternal link) within its funding priority on “Developing and establishing contract research in African innovation systems”