Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Research Group Leader: Phumlani Nkontwana

This theme views entrepreneurship beyond the confines of products and services, and focuses on systems and intentional communities. Our research work seeks to contribute to growth and preservation of new innovation governance systems that emerge from experimentations and result in visible positive spill-overs or societal impact.

 

Current projects underway:

  • Responsible for the establishment and coordination of the new flagship transdisciplinary and entrepreneurial diploma programme in sustainable development, launching January 2018 by the School of Public Leadership (SPL) at Stellenbosch University in partnership with the Sustainability Institute.
  • Concept Design of the new Pan African University (PAU) Innovation and Entrepreneurship Hub in partnership with African Union, Germany Government through KFW Bank, GIZ and Tlemcen University in Algeria. The project is ongoing until May 2018.
  • Participation at the 4-day Design Lab for the new systems entrepreneurship global fellowship programme for the Rockefeller Foundation, in partnership with the UCT Graduate School of Business, May 2017.
  • Establishment of an ongoing collaboration with the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship through the Philippi project and in partnership with CST’s Transformative Transdisciplinary Research Group, 2017.
  • Participant Researcher at the ICSU-NASAC-ISSC Academic Training on Transdisciplinary Research (TDR) as part of the Leading Integrated Research for Agenda 2030 in Africa (LIRA) on Advancing the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 11 on cities in Africa, in Kampala, Uganda; 28 August – 1 September 2017.

Student-led Projects