Review of the performance of Zambia's national system of innovation for the period 2001 to 2010

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorKaplan, Daviden_ZA
dc.contributor.authorZulu, Mercyen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2018-05-25T07:44:51Z
dc.date.available2018-05-25T07:44:51Z
dc.date.issued2018en_ZA
dc.description.abstractIt is widely agreed globally that innovation, knowledge and learning is a vital part of economic development. It creates and promotes competitiveness at the firm level, national and regional levels. Furthermore, innovation processes are dependent on relationships and the interaction of various actors thus, it is necessary for policy makers to strengthen the innovative environment so that collaboration is encouraged and facilitated. However, in order to develop relevant policies, the innovation system in question needs to be reviewed; in this case, Zambia's national system of innovation (NSI). Science, technology and innovation (STI) in Zambia is described as relatively underdeveloped. The country gained independence in 1964 and only after 32 years of independence (1996) did it draft its first STI policy document. Sound economic policy accompanied by efficient institutions plays a key role in shaping a country's economic development. Therefore, it is believed that a timely national STI policy and mobilization of supporting institutions in Zambia could have helped the country exploit its abundant natural resources, to drive sustainable economic development. This study, which is the first of its kind, provides a review of the performance of Zambia's NSI during the period 2001 to 2010. The study starts by examining comprehensive literature on STI and NSI, particularly in relation to developing countries such as Zambia. Thereafter, key concepts from the literature are applied to the Zambian case to formulate a framework for analyzing the country's NSI. The framework involved organizing the NSI into three hierarchal levels namely; micro, meso and macro. Under these levels, system functions were selected namely; knowledge development at the micro level, business, industrial and entrepreneur activities at the meso level and resource mobilization at the macro level. Thereafter, indicators were selected to measure the performance of each system function. Subsequently, trend analysis was conducted on the set of indicators. The results of the analysis suggest that during the period 2001 to 2010, there has been significant increase in innovation input (government funding of R&D activities) and a significant growth in output (scientific research publications) at the micro level. The rise in the ratio of input to output suggests a level of efficiency in knowledge development, because the output indicator was increasing more rapidly than the increases in the input indicator. On the contrary results at the meso level, particularly with regards to exports of goods and services, revealed comparative advantage of merchandise exports, manufactured exports and high-technology exports, suggest that knowledge and innovation is not being exploited efficiently and effectively for commercial purposes. These results imply that there are some significant constraints and factors in scarce supply. In addition, the policy environment may not be favourable. Finally despite significant growth in government funding at the macro level, the results of this study show that it is still limited. The National Science and Technology Policy initially proposed that government allocates 3% of GDP annually as funding for science, technology and innovation activities. However, this has not been the case. The study indicates that an average of only 0.04% was annually allocated during the period under analysis.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationZulu, M. (2018). <i>Review of the performance of Zambia's national system of innovation for the period 2001 to 2010</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28124en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationZulu, Mercy. <i>"Review of the performance of Zambia's national system of innovation for the period 2001 to 2010."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28124en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationZulu, M. 2018. Review of the performance of Zambia's national system of innovation for the period 2001 to 2010. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Zulu, Mercy AB - It is widely agreed globally that innovation, knowledge and learning is a vital part of economic development. It creates and promotes competitiveness at the firm level, national and regional levels. Furthermore, innovation processes are dependent on relationships and the interaction of various actors thus, it is necessary for policy makers to strengthen the innovative environment so that collaboration is encouraged and facilitated. However, in order to develop relevant policies, the innovation system in question needs to be reviewed; in this case, Zambia's national system of innovation (NSI). Science, technology and innovation (STI) in Zambia is described as relatively underdeveloped. The country gained independence in 1964 and only after 32 years of independence (1996) did it draft its first STI policy document. Sound economic policy accompanied by efficient institutions plays a key role in shaping a country's economic development. Therefore, it is believed that a timely national STI policy and mobilization of supporting institutions in Zambia could have helped the country exploit its abundant natural resources, to drive sustainable economic development. This study, which is the first of its kind, provides a review of the performance of Zambia's NSI during the period 2001 to 2010. The study starts by examining comprehensive literature on STI and NSI, particularly in relation to developing countries such as Zambia. Thereafter, key concepts from the literature are applied to the Zambian case to formulate a framework for analyzing the country's NSI. The framework involved organizing the NSI into three hierarchal levels namely; micro, meso and macro. Under these levels, system functions were selected namely; knowledge development at the micro level, business, industrial and entrepreneur activities at the meso level and resource mobilization at the macro level. Thereafter, indicators were selected to measure the performance of each system function. Subsequently, trend analysis was conducted on the set of indicators. The results of the analysis suggest that during the period 2001 to 2010, there has been significant increase in innovation input (government funding of R&D activities) and a significant growth in output (scientific research publications) at the micro level. The rise in the ratio of input to output suggests a level of efficiency in knowledge development, because the output indicator was increasing more rapidly than the increases in the input indicator. On the contrary results at the meso level, particularly with regards to exports of goods and services, revealed comparative advantage of merchandise exports, manufactured exports and high-technology exports, suggest that knowledge and innovation is not being exploited efficiently and effectively for commercial purposes. These results imply that there are some significant constraints and factors in scarce supply. In addition, the policy environment may not be favourable. Finally despite significant growth in government funding at the macro level, the results of this study show that it is still limited. The National Science and Technology Policy initially proposed that government allocates 3% of GDP annually as funding for science, technology and innovation activities. However, this has not been the case. The study indicates that an average of only 0.04% was annually allocated during the period under analysis. DA - 2018 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2018 T1 - Review of the performance of Zambia's national system of innovation for the period 2001 to 2010 TI - Review of the performance of Zambia's national system of innovation for the period 2001 to 2010 UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28124 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/28124
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationZulu M. Review of the performance of Zambia's national system of innovation for the period 2001 to 2010. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics, 2018 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28124en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentSchool of Economicsen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Commerceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherEconomic Developmenten_ZA
dc.titleReview of the performance of Zambia's national system of innovation for the period 2001 to 2010en_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMComen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
thesis_com_2018_zulu_mercy.pdf
Size:
2.57 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
Masters