Glenda Kru
Biographic Data
| ID | 1707460 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Glenda Kru |
| GIVEN NAMES | Glenda |
| FAMILY NAME | Kru |
| SIGNATURE | KRU G |
| AFFILIATIONS | Human Sciences Research Council |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0946-785X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 48 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
An indicator framework for assessing innovation capabilities in the informal sector
Increasingly, the potential of the informal sector in offering alternative development pathways is highlighted. A challenge is to understand how informal enterprises build innovation capabilities that break necessity-driven path dependencies. This paper proposes an empirically-grounded, multi-dimensional indicator framework to assess innovation capabilities in the informal sector. The research draws on a survey of 996 informal enterprises and in-…
Do we measure what should be measured? Towards a research and theoretical agenda for STI measurement in Africa
Towards an indicator of R&D and human development
To measure policy progress, one key science, technology and innovation indicator has long captured the imagination of policy makers: gross domestic R&D expenditure as a proportion of the gross domestic product of a country. However, African development challenges inform new policy commitments to orient STI towards inclusive and sustainable development. Such dynamics led us to question how the prevailing STI measurement frameworks need to change. …
Universities as change agents in resource-poor local settings
University-community engagement is emerging as an important channel for social innovation, requiring universities to act as change agents in their local settings. The role of change agent presents new challenges for universities as it requires going beyond institutional borders to collaborate with non-traditional partners such as informal enterprises, and to stimulate and support innovation that may be seen as relevant to a given local setting on…
Measurement of innovation in the informal sector in Africa
Innovation is key to industrialization in Africa and must be aligned with industrial policy. A challenge for African countries is to design and implement innovation and industrial policies that take into account the unique structural nature of African economies, in which the informal sector is prevalent. This paper argues that a measurement programme focused on innovation in the context of local economic development is imperative for setting indu…
A decade of innovation and development
This year marks the tenth anniversary of Innovation and Development. This special anniversary issue brings together a set of reflective articles by key scholars in our field. Each article contributes in a different way to advance the agenda on innovation and its relations to sustainable and inclusive development. Several of the papers take a step back and reflect on overall developments in the field, and in this way, propose future directions. In…
Innovation for inclusive rural transformation
Innovation is increasingly recognized as a potent policy tool for addressing the structural problems that characterize poverty in marginalized rural communities. In what ways should governments in developing countries be involved in supporting innovation to achieve inclusive development objectives? This special issue brings together key insights from different facets of rural transformation programmes in the global South, with the view to shed li…
Borderline innovation, marginalized communities
Where do the notional boundaries of the concept of innovation lie, and what does this mean for the study of innovation in socially marginalized settings, where changes are localized, incremental, informal, and social? How can this help us understand new aspects of innovation and inclusive development? To explore these questions, we draw on an evidence base describing university interactions with highly marginalized communities in South Africa, Ug…
Higher education and economic development
Global interactions between firms and universities
This paper investigates interactions between firms and universities in a global context. The point of departure is a review of the ever-evolving literature on innovation. Three major strands of the literature can be identified: interactions between firms and universities, transnational corporations and their global reach, and more recently, global innovation networks (GINs). These strands have intersections that provide a starting point for a the…
Reconceptualising engagement
Currently in universities there is a widespread and formal promotion of ‘community engagement’, but there is also conceptual confusion, debate and contestation, as reflected in vastly differing interpretations of what counts as ‘engaged practice’. Universities are grappling to define what ‘community engagement’ means, and a lively debate on the relationship between the university and society in a developing country like South Africa is emerging. …
Universities and Knowledge-based Development in sub-Saharan Africa
Research on the changing role of universities in firm learning, innovation and national economic development has not extended systematically to low income countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on an empirical survey of firms and case studies of university practices, the article examines conditions of universities, firms and their potential for interaction across a national system of innovation in three countries, Nigeria, Uganda and South Afri…
Global innovation networks, human capital, and development
In this Special Issue, we explore the dynamics of global innovation networks (GINs), and their implications for development. In the neo-Shumpeterian and ‘new trade theory’ context, knowledge is see
Creating Knowledge Networks
This article focuses on a new organisational form that is emerging in the South African context—knowledge networks of higher education, industry and intermediary partners. The article focuses on seven case studies in two high-technology fields and their related industrial sectors—biotechnology, being relatively new, and new materials development, being relatively mature in South Africa. It shows the complex nature of the research partners at each…
Distinct pathways
In much of the literature on the privatisation of higher education, it appears as both a relatively recent phenomenon, and one that is homogenous in its causes, forms and effects. Drawing on the case of South Africa, this study challenges these assumptions, suggesting that without a sense of the long history of private provision and its interwoven relationship with public higher education in that country, it is difficult to appreciate fully the e…
Employment and employability
This paper explores the expectations of higher education responsiveness of key employer, education, and training constituencies in South Africa. Empirical data was gathered through a series of focus group and individual interviews, and analysed in terms of distinctions in the ideal relationship between education and the workplace. The paper demonstrates that there are clear differences in the way the call for responsiveness is framed and legitima…
Towards Human Rights in South African Schools
Towards Human Rights in South African Schools
In South Africa, since 1994, there has been a process of statutory deracialisation. Analysis reveals a critical absence of substantive education policy or specific programmes to deal with 'race', equity and human rights, particularly to inform practice and relationships at school level. How, then, does the average teacher, principal and school governing body respond when faced with issues of diversity and human rights in the classroom, the playgr…
Higher education and economic development
Innovation for inclusive rural transformation
Innovation is increasingly recognized as a potent policy tool for addressing the structural problems that characterize poverty in marginalized rural communities. In what ways should governments in developing countries be involved in supporting innovation to achieve inclusive development objectives? This special issue brings together key insights from different facets of rural transformation programmes in the global South, with the view to shed li…
Measurement of innovation in the informal sector in Africa
Innovation is key to industrialization in Africa and must be aligned with industrial policy. A challenge for African countries is to design and implement innovation and industrial policies that take into account the unique structural nature of African economies, in which the informal sector is prevalent. This paper argues that a measurement programme focused on innovation in the context of local economic development is imperative for setting indu…
Borderline innovation, marginalized communities
Where do the notional boundaries of the concept of innovation lie, and what does this mean for the study of innovation in socially marginalized settings, where changes are localized, incremental, informal, and social? How can this help us understand new aspects of innovation and inclusive development? To explore these questions, we draw on an evidence base describing university interactions with highly marginalized communities in South Africa, Ug…
Towards Human Rights in South African Schools
In South Africa, since 1994, there has been a process of statutory deracialisation. Analysis reveals a critical absence of substantive education policy or specific programmes to deal with 'race', equity and human rights, particularly to inform practice and relationships at school level. How, then, does the average teacher, principal and school governing body respond when faced with issues of diversity and human rights in the classroom, the playgr…
Do we measure what should be measured? Towards a research and theoretical agenda for STI measurement in Africa
A decade of innovation and development
This year marks the tenth anniversary of Innovation and Development. This special anniversary issue brings together a set of reflective articles by key scholars in our field. Each article contributes in a different way to advance the agenda on innovation and its relations to sustainable and inclusive development. Several of the papers take a step back and reflect on overall developments in the field, and in this way, propose future directions. In…
Global innovation networks, human capital, and development
In this Special Issue, we explore the dynamics of global innovation networks (GINs), and their implications for development. In the neo-Shumpeterian and ‘new trade theory’ context, knowledge is see
Distinct pathways
In much of the literature on the privatisation of higher education, it appears as both a relatively recent phenomenon, and one that is homogenous in its causes, forms and effects. Drawing on the case of South Africa, this study challenges these assumptions, suggesting that without a sense of the long history of private provision and its interwoven relationship with public higher education in that country, it is difficult to appreciate fully the e…
Employment and employability
This paper explores the expectations of higher education responsiveness of key employer, education, and training constituencies in South Africa. Empirical data was gathered through a series of focus group and individual interviews, and analysed in terms of distinctions in the ideal relationship between education and the workplace. The paper demonstrates that there are clear differences in the way the call for responsiveness is framed and legitima…
Towards Human Rights in South African Schools
Towards Human Rights in South African Schools
In South Africa, since 1994, there has been a process of statutory deracialisation. Analysis reveals a critical absence of substantive education policy or specific programmes to deal with 'race', equity and human rights, particularly to inform practice and relationships at school level. How, then, does the average teacher, principal and school governing body respond when faced with issues of diversity and human rights in the classroom, the playgr…
Employment and employability
This paper explores the expectations of higher education responsiveness of key employer, education, and training constituencies in South Africa. Empirical data was gathered through a series of focus group and individual interviews, and analysed in terms of distinctions in the ideal relationship between education and the workplace. The paper demonstrates that there are clear differences in the way the call for responsiveness is framed and legitima…
Distinct pathways
In much of the literature on the privatisation of higher education, it appears as both a relatively recent phenomenon, and one that is homogenous in its causes, forms and effects. Drawing on the case of South Africa, this study challenges these assumptions, suggesting that without a sense of the long history of private provision and its interwoven relationship with public higher education in that country, it is difficult to appreciate fully the e…
Creating Knowledge Networks
This article focuses on a new organisational form that is emerging in the South African context—knowledge networks of higher education, industry and intermediary partners. The article focuses on seven case studies in two high-technology fields and their related industrial sectors—biotechnology, being relatively new, and new materials development, being relatively mature in South Africa. It shows the complex nature of the research partners at each…
Reconceptualising engagement
Currently in universities there is a widespread and formal promotion of ‘community engagement’, but there is also conceptual confusion, debate and contestation, as reflected in vastly differing interpretations of what counts as ‘engaged practice’. Universities are grappling to define what ‘community engagement’ means, and a lively debate on the relationship between the university and society in a developing country like South Africa is emerging. …
Universities and Knowledge-based Development in sub-Saharan Africa
Research on the changing role of universities in firm learning, innovation and national economic development has not extended systematically to low income countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on an empirical survey of firms and case studies of university practices, the article examines conditions of universities, firms and their potential for interaction across a national system of innovation in three countries, Nigeria, Uganda and South Afri…
Global innovation networks, human capital, and development
In this Special Issue, we explore the dynamics of global innovation networks (GINs), and their implications for development. In the neo-Shumpeterian and ‘new trade theory’ context, knowledge is see
Global interactions between firms and universities
This paper investigates interactions between firms and universities in a global context. The point of departure is a review of the ever-evolving literature on innovation. Three major strands of the literature can be identified: interactions between firms and universities, transnational corporations and their global reach, and more recently, global innovation networks (GINs). These strands have intersections that provide a starting point for a the…
Higher education and economic development
Borderline innovation, marginalized communities
Where do the notional boundaries of the concept of innovation lie, and what does this mean for the study of innovation in socially marginalized settings, where changes are localized, incremental, informal, and social? How can this help us understand new aspects of innovation and inclusive development? To explore these questions, we draw on an evidence base describing university interactions with highly marginalized communities in South Africa, Ug…
Innovation for inclusive rural transformation
Innovation is increasingly recognized as a potent policy tool for addressing the structural problems that characterize poverty in marginalized rural communities. In what ways should governments in developing countries be involved in supporting innovation to achieve inclusive development objectives? This special issue brings together key insights from different facets of rural transformation programmes in the global South, with the view to shed li…
Towards an indicator of R&D and human development
To measure policy progress, one key science, technology and innovation indicator has long captured the imagination of policy makers: gross domestic R&D expenditure as a proportion of the gross domestic product of a country. However, African development challenges inform new policy commitments to orient STI towards inclusive and sustainable development. Such dynamics led us to question how the prevailing STI measurement frameworks need to change. …
Universities as change agents in resource-poor local settings
University-community engagement is emerging as an important channel for social innovation, requiring universities to act as change agents in their local settings. The role of change agent presents new challenges for universities as it requires going beyond institutional borders to collaborate with non-traditional partners such as informal enterprises, and to stimulate and support innovation that may be seen as relevant to a given local setting on…
Measurement of innovation in the informal sector in Africa
Innovation is key to industrialization in Africa and must be aligned with industrial policy. A challenge for African countries is to design and implement innovation and industrial policies that take into account the unique structural nature of African economies, in which the informal sector is prevalent. This paper argues that a measurement programme focused on innovation in the context of local economic development is imperative for setting indu…
A decade of innovation and development
This year marks the tenth anniversary of Innovation and Development. This special anniversary issue brings together a set of reflective articles by key scholars in our field. Each article contributes in a different way to advance the agenda on innovation and its relations to sustainable and inclusive development. Several of the papers take a step back and reflect on overall developments in the field, and in this way, propose future directions. In…
An indicator framework for assessing innovation capabilities in the informal sector
Increasingly, the potential of the informal sector in offering alternative development pathways is highlighted. A challenge is to understand how informal enterprises build innovation capabilities that break necessity-driven path dependencies. This paper proposes an empirically-grounded, multi-dimensional indicator framework to assess innovation capabilities in the informal sector. The research draws on a survey of 996 informal enterprises and in-…
Do we measure what should be measured? Towards a research and theoretical agenda for STI measurement in Africa
Political science (14 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Economic growth (11 works) · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development (10 works) · Business (9 works) · Economics (9 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Geography (8 works) · Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences (6 works) · Social science (6 works)