Business Blog: Knowledge Exchange Works Both Ways
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Carolyn Hayes, from the Centre for Global Eco-innovation, reflects on a recent trip to Botswana to help develop knowledge-sharing between research and business, African style.
I’ve recently spent a week in Gaborone, Botswana, with colleagues from across Lancaster University. We were delivering a week-long workshop around Knowledge Exchange (KE) and Engagement, run by the RECIRCULATE project for a group of businesses, NGOs, researchers and university professionals from across Africa.
I have worked in Knowledge Exchange, bringing academics together with the users of their research, for most of my professional life . At the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation, we supports business-led solutions to global environmental challenges,. Our motto is, ‘Better for business, better for the environment’, and we believe all innovation should be eco-innovation. The RECIRCULATE brings this ideology to Africa and addresses the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
As well as delivering part of the training, I also benefited from the learning offered by my colleagues and other delegates. Observing the collective expertise and passion in the group was quite an experience.
Over the last few days I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside 40 amazing individuals from very diverse countries and communities. It’s been an incredibly humbling and inspiring week which I will take back to Lancaster and will shape the way I consider Knowledge Exchange in an international context.
Up until now I have focused on business/university engagements taking place in the North West of England. Placing knowledge exchange in an international context adds layers of complexities and brings with it a host of new challenges.
In the UK we take for granted our sector’s support for Knowledge Exchange activity and the academic drive for impact. We have stable and robust funding streams from our government, the EU and other agencies. And we have a reliable economy and predictable trading patterns (for now). The context across Africa can be quite different and our methods often simply don’t work in this setting. Throughout the week we’ve worked together to apply shared experiences and expertise to find ways of working together and allow Knowledge Exchange to take place in a different environment.
I have been involved in RECIRCULATE activities for some time and it has given me an appreciation for the challenges faced by my African counterparts. African nations are responsible for less than 3% of global emissions, but the continent is set to be the worst affected by the devastating impacts of climate change (UK Department for International Development). The continent is getting warmer and rainfall becoming less predictable. As the effects of climate change play out, future conflicts will be around fundamental resources, such as access to water. I’ve learnt from colleagues that this is already happening in parts of Africa.
Climate change clearly presents many challenges, but it also brings real opportunity. The UK low carbon economy is estimated to grow four times faster than other sectors, delivering between £60 billion and £170 billion of export sales of goods and services by 2030 (UK Clean Growth Strategy).
It has been fascinating to discuss with colleagues how we can learn to adapt and change our expectations of how we will live in the future. In one session we explored which sector should take the lead in driving such a change – should it be the universities, businesses or government? We concluded that all sectors are capable of driving change, depending on the situation. One group not considered was the general public – what role do individuals have in driving an environmental revolution? We undoubtedly need to influence government policy and business practices, but I’d like to believe that ‘people power’ could force real change , if only we could all agree on which compromises we are comfortable making.
I look forward to seeing many of my African colleagues again in July when some will take part in a four-week residency at Lancaster University to further develop collaborative ideas and Knowledge Exchange mechanisms.
Carolyn Hayes is a Operations Manager for the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation at Lancaster University.
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