Towards Building Research Capabilities in Development Management and Innovation A proposal from the Open University (UK), Africa Technology Policy Studies network (ATPS), African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) Draft Proposal This proposal summarises a major opportunity to work collaboratively to build research capabilities in development management and innovation. It is proposed to build collaborative partnerships around postgraduate education and training in development management and innovation policy research. The OU has particular strengths in distance education, interdisciplinary perspectives and a distinctive expertise in innovation and international development with a strong policy and practice dimension. The African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) is a pan-African policy research institute. The Africa Technology Policy Studies network (ATPS) supports science and technology and innovation policy studies through national chapters in over 20 African countries. The proposal builds on existing part-time, distance learning courses from the Open University UK (OU). It is expected that course participants will include middle level managers, officers and practitioners in a range of policy-oriented, governmental, non-governmental and private organisations and institutions working in development. They will have first degrees, which may equally be in a social science discipline such as economics or law as in science and technology. They will be working in investigative, problem-solving or policy development roles, but will not necessarily have academic research training (even if they are working as investigators). The main elements of the MSc curriculum in the first instance will include the following courses: TU870 Capacities for Managing Development TU872 Institutional Development: Conflict, Values and Meanings T890 Technology Policy and Innovation Research TU874 Development Management Project And two further electives (to be agreed). TU870, TU872 and TU874 are core and compulsory courses for the MSc degree. Course participants following the innovation policy research pathway would define appropriately related projects for their TU874 studies. Possibilities for shorter programmes of study leading to a Certificate or a Diploma will also be explored. Further information about the programme and fees can be found at: http://gdm.open.ac.uk
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