Photo by: Bloomberg
Local innovation will undoubtedly provide solutions to many of the challenges faced by Africa, as it sets the tone for progress and enables businesses to gain a competitive advantage, create additional jobs and change peoples’ lives.
Speaking as part of a panellist discussion on innovation in Africa, on Thursday, Philips Africa head of research Eddine Sarouk noted that innovation was a catalyst for tackling challenges in healthcare, energy and water.
“However, we need to address innovation from a local context, with local talent, while understanding what is happening globally and shaping it into local solutions,” he said.
Henley Business School South Africa school of innovation and branding head Puleng Makhoalibe agreed, noting that Africa was shaping a culture of finding its own solutions to its challenges. “We live in a very resource-constrained environment and it’s about time that we develop our own creative answers.”
She pointed out, however, that the local schooling system instilling the notion that one always had to succeed and was not allowed to fail presented a challenge, in that innovators were inhibited from taking chances and trying different ideas out of fear of failure.
Philips’ recently conducted survey on innovation revealed that there was significant potential for innovation on the continent, but that there were challenges to taking innovations to market.
The company surveyed several African markets, including Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco and Egypt, to understand what the continent’s perception was on innovation, barriers to innovation and areas where successful innovation could be implemented.
More than 1 000 people were surveyed in urban and rural areas.
Philips Africa CEO JJ van Dongen revealed that 60% of people sampled considered themselves to be innovators, while 20% relied on others to create solutions. “Forty per cent of people believed they had an idea that could solve everyday problems, but 57% believed they lacked money, 29% felt there was a lack of infrastructure, while 23% felt their operating environment would not allow them to succeed,” he said.
Innovation Hub Management Company biosciences innovation specialist Dr Chamunorwa Togo highlighted that Africans had always been innovators. “If you look at the environment in which people on the continent have been surviving, that environment requires extra complex adaptive skills. But the issue is, how can we enhance creative confidence and how can we identify the best innovative ideas?” he asked.