THEME: Research and innovation management for impact on driving national economies
INTRODUCTION
Botswana is participating in the Strengthening Research and Innovation Management (SRIM) II Programme which is part sponsored by the South Africa Department of Science and Innovation and SADC Secretariat and implemented by the Southern Africa Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA). The objective of SRIM II is to support, facilitate and promote the management of science, technology and innovation at institutional levels for socio-economic value and wealth creation, which the Botswana chapter aligns to by virtue of building capacity and promoting connection and cooperation between Research & Innovation (R & I) Management practitioners, institutions and other role players within the country R & I ecosystem. Further to that the Botswana chapter implementation project will advance R & I Management and strengthen the professional and technical skills as well as capacity of practitioners and their institutions in the country.
OBJECTIVES
The proposed Botswana SRIM Programme aims to contribute in a meaningful way to the development of R & I Managers as key facilitators of research impact in the country. This will be done by conducting a two (2) day symposium: The symposium will bring together key actors in the national R & I system to provide a community platform where R & I management professionals from Botswana will come together in a face-to-face forum to discuss papers/topics in question and examine the issues and trends within their national R & I ecosystem and network; and support and learn from each other on practices of R & I management in the country. The community of best practice is ever-growing in professionalisation in the country and will serve as an opportunity for training and data collection on the national R & I ecosystem that will be incorporated into country reports and benchmarking.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
The symposium will be used as a platform to advocate for the importance of R & I management and will allow programme partners to track participants, to maintain links and to strengthen the local R & I management network. It will also provide a report detailing the extend of R & I impact in the transformation of Botswana.
PARTICIPANTS
R & I management practitioners, researchers, innovators, industry and policy makers in Botswana and SADC. A total of 200 participants will attend the symposium in-person and the remaining will join online. The event will also be livestreamed to an online audience through SARIMA and social media platforms of participating institutions.