INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT and Structural Transformation
Industrial policy needs to respond to both well-established challenges such as low rates of productive transformation and low growth as well as new challenges such as disruptive technological change and climate transitions. CCRED’s work on structural transformation builds a body of evidence on the factors underlying South Africa’s poor record of transformation and offers policy insights to address the weaknesses in the economy, as well as in other economies in the region. CCRED’s approach has been to focus on understanding markets and industries from a firm-centred perspective, linking competition and regulation with questions of industrial development, inclusive growth and regional integration. The main areas of research are sector studies on structural transformation, development finance, black industrialists, digitalization and green industrialisation.
Key Projects
1. 2017-2023 The Industrial Development Think Tank (IDTT) in collaboration with SARChI-ID and funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Multi-year research programme producing seminal work on structural transformation in South Africa, with the outputs incorporated in a book on Structural Transformation in South Africa (Oxford University Press)
2. 2023-2024 Advancing Opportunities for Black Industrialists in the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE); funded by the City of Ekurhuleni.
The project was a pilot study of Black Industrialists (Bis) in the Ekurhuleni region with a view to understanding both the barriers to entry and effective participation for BIs in the City as well as how BIs can be more effectively supported. The insights were intended to feed into interventions being prioritised by the City of Ekurhuleni to help support BIs to participate more effectively, including identifying funding partnerships.
3. 2019–2021 Innovation and Inclusive Industrialisation in Agro-processing (IIAP); a collaboration between the University of Edinburgh, the University of Johannesburg, and the Economic and Social Research Foundation (Tanzania), funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Global Challenges Research Fund
4. 2017–2020 Southern Africa – Toward Inclusive Economic Development (SA-TIED); funded by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)
5. 2017–2019 African Industrial Development and Integration Research Project (AIDIRP); commissioned by the former Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), coordinated by Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS), and implemented by CCRED
6. 2015–2017 Regional Growth and Development in Southern Africa; funded by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)
Past Projects:
7. 2016-2019 Gauteng Department of Economic Development (GDED) sector studies and strategies; collaboration with Benchmarking and Manufacturing Analysts SA (B&M Analysts) and commissioned by GDED.
8. 2015-2016 Towards an understanding of the economy of Johannesburg; for the City of Johannesburg (COJ)
9. 2014-2015 Regional Industrialisation Project; funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
10. Growth Promotion through Industrial Strategies (Zambia); commissioned by the International Growth Centre (IGC). Assessed opportunities for
11. Review of Provincial Development Finance Institutions (PDFIS); for Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC) and National Treasury
12. Plastic Converters Strategy; for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
A collaboration between the Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development, the Department of Trade and Industry, South African Research Chair in Industrialisation, and the University of Johannesburg
