Setting up an Innovation Platform for Agribusiness Opportunities in South Africa. A Systems Analysis of the Preconditions for Setting up an Innovation Platform to Stimulate Sustainable Economic Growth in Giyani, South Africa

Abstract

This research focuses on the development and implementation of agricultural innovations that will ensure food security of small scale farmers in rural areas in South Africa. Its overall goal is to develop a strategy how to set up an innovation platform (IP) in Giyani, South Africa that also stimulates sustainable economic growth. The innovation platform is a new way of arranging and managing relationships of relevant stakeholders within the local agricultural innovation system in Giyani which depicts an innovative business model in the region. It enables the stakeholders to collaborate on new business opportunities and find solutions for the increasing food demand of the growing population and the threats of the unpredictable climate on the regional farming grounds. For this innovation platform to be an economically stimulating part of the agricultural innovation system its opportunities and barriers and how to overcome these need to be analyzed. However, there is little theoretical background to which to refer on this matter in general, let alone the north-east region of South Africa. Therefore this research applied a comparable case study approach that considered three case studies describing how to set up an innovation platform in South Africa and Rwanda. The case studies are analyzed from an agricultural innovation systems perspective taking structural, dynamic, and external components into account. A further cross-case analysis between the three studied cases established the key aspects for setting up an innovation platform which are the facilitation of the innovation platform and the cooperation of its relevant stakeholders. Based on these results a four-step strategy to set up an innovation platform is defined that includes (1) the analysis of the environment, (2) the set-up of the innovation platform, (3) the implementation of the innovations and (4) the monitoring and evaluation of the entire process. Based on this strategy the well-functioning innovation platform in Giyani can be established and will stimulate the development of agricultural innovations and therewith sustainable economic growth.