Centre for Studies in Science Policy
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Invites you to CSSP Wednesday Lecture Series
Talk on
Endogenous Knowledge-based Innovation in Comparative Perspective: Towards a Model for Africa-India Cooperation
By
Dr Diran Soumonni (Wits University, South Africa)
Venue: Room No. 227, 2nd Floor, CSSP, SSS-1 Building, JNU
Date: Wednesday, 12th February 2020 | Time: 11:30 am
About the Speaker: Dr Diran Soumonni is a Senior Lecturer in Innovation Policy and Management, and Programme Director of the Master of Management in Innovation Studies at the Wits Business School, South Africa. He obtained his PhD in Public Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, where he focused on both innovation studies and energy policy. He is an active member of the Global Network for the Economics of Learning, Innovation and Competence Building Systems (GLOBELICS) and of the Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S). He serves on the scientific board of the African Network for the Economics of Learning, Innovation and Competence Building Systems (AFRICALICS), and is also a Steering Committee Member of the International Network on Appropriate Technology (INAT).
About the Talk: The dominant modern discourse on globalization masks the fact that the history of humanity itself is one of migration, exchange, and interpenetration in all facets of life. Furthermore, the prevailing apparatus designed to foster "development" in most of the world is economistic in its orientation, and tends to downplay the plurality of values that provide people with a higher sense of meaning and purpose. Thus, the task of formerly-colonized nations in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere, must be to not only problematize these discourses, but to offer alternative pathways for a more just global order. As a contribution to such an exercise, this paper first highlights the underpinnings of endogenous knowledge, cursorily understood to signify that "knowledge of self" is the properly-suited basis for a reciprocal valorization of diverse knowledge systems. In contradistinction to the framing of Africa that was inherited from its arbitrary partition, however, the premise that serves as the basis for this paper is that which was defined by the preeminent Beninese linguist and cultural theorist, Ambassador Olabiyi Yaï, as "the sum total of African cultures as sedimented for millennia in philosophies, wisdoms, ways of being and doing things, as well as ways of relating to otherness". Secondly, some salient examples of political leaders in India and Africa, who attempted to base the development of their emerging states on a critical appropriation of modern science, will be underscored. Thirdly, some notable contemporary models of endogenous knowledge-based, innovative initiatives in both territories will be highlighted. Finally, these building blocks, namely, endogenous knowledge generation, innovative organizational development, and nation-building, provide the basis for a three-tiered, but mutually-reinforcing model for South-South cooperation in general, and for Africa-India cooperation, in particular.
There is a growing body of social science research on the role of innovation in socio-economic development in the Global South. In this regard, the Systems of Innovation (SI) framework, which has been embraced by numerous Indian and African scholars alike, offers insights that predominantly provide strategies for acquiring technological capabilities from outside sources and subsequently upgrading them for the purpose of economic development. Another orientation within the same systemic perspective emphasizes low cost, grassroots, and socially-inclusive innovation. The latter are roughly analogous to the early themes in the Appropriate Technology movement, which were largely inspired by the Indian economist, J.C. Kumarappa and the Sri Lankan scholar of Indian culture, Ananda Coomaraswamy, among others. However, despite the significant potential of applying scientifically-novel or "emerging technologies" such as advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), biotechnology or nanotechnology to developmental challenges, the synthesis between the two main approaches largely remains elusive. Furthermore, only a few related studies in either perspective attempt to ground their work in the historical experience of African and Indian peoples, their intellectual heritage, or the viable innovative solutions that continue to emerge from their knowledge bases, both indigenous and contemporary. This paper, therefore, combines the concept of "Endogenous Development", as developed by the late, renowned Burkinabé historian, Joseph Ki-Zerbo, in his 1992 book, "La natte des autres", with selected analytical tools from the SI approach to propose an Endogenous Systems of Innovation (ESI) framework. Of specific interest, with respect to Africa-India knowledge exchanges, are the concepts of "alternative science" articulated by Shiv Visvanathan, as part of his critical reflections on the Swadesi movement in Bengal, and "alternative sciences" as propounded by Ashish Nandy. Far from being essentialist or nativist, these perspectives provide an enlarged set of insights for integrating diverse knowledge forms, while remaining true to "endogeneity" as a referential, though self-critical and evolving matrix. From the vantage points of gender inclusivity, social equity and ecological consciousness, the scholar-activists, Sunita Narain and the Late Wangari Maathai, provide cutting-edge Global South critiques and alternatives to contemporary environmental discourses and practices.
Following the conceptual groundwork presented, some more experiential and programmatic models are offered that could provide blueprints for how reciprocal, knowledge-based exchanges might be strengthened. In the first set of examples, some of the core convictions of the Late Tanzanian president, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, and the Late Indian Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, with respect to both harmonious science-based development and South-South solidarity, are presented. The second set of illustrative cases relates to non-governmental organizations that offer much-needed developmental services in an "endogenous" manner. These include the Benin-based, innovation award-winning Songhaï Center, which promotes "authentic technology" based on sustainable agroecology, and the collaboration between the Mauritius-based Global Rainbow Foundation and the Indian not-for-profit organization, Jaipur Foot, in the manufacturing and fitting of artificial limbs. Lastly, some recommendations that emerge from the three-tiered endogenous development exchange model are offered for concrete, future engagement.
All are welcome to attend the Lecture.
Coordinator, CSSP Lecture Series
