Case Study: University of Mauritius – Sector Feasibility Study - Positioning South Africa as a Knowledge and Innovation Hub: The Case of the Western Cape Province
Mthente was commissioned to assess, using the Western Cape Province as a case study, the potential of positioning South Africa as a knowledge and innovation hub in a globalising world economy. In particular, the study explores whether the Western Cape Province possesses the critical success factors to facilitate its emergence as an internationally competitive knowledge hub that can contribute towards the provinces’ economic goals of growth, employment creation and poverty reduction.
The research adopted a two-phase methodological approach: The first phase consisted of background desktop research outlining the global dimensions of the debate on knowledge and innovation hubs. The second phase involved semi-structured interviews with the key stakeholders in the higher education sector in the Western Cape, policymakers, business representatives, practitioners and researchers, and representatives of civil society. It was hoped that the paper would contribute to the policy debate about the requirements of developing the Western Cape as a globally competitive knowledge hub which contributes to growth and poverty amelioration in the province.