College of Business and Economics | Annual Report 2020 40 Prof Fiona Tregenna overview 2020 was another successful year for the DSTNRF South African Research Chair in Industrial Development (SARChI-ID), with the new conditions bringing both new challenges and opportunities, including the need to adapt to new ways of working. SARChI-ID has been renewed for a second five-year term (2021-2025). Our NRF-funded Community of Practice in Industrialisation and Innovation (CoP) was renewed (for 2021-2022), and in the second half of 2020, we began preparatory work towards this and commissioned a series of research papers, in-house as well as from national and international collaborators and partner institutions. An extensive body of policy-relevant research was produced through the Industrial Development Think Tank (IDTT), a collaboration between the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, the Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development (CCRED) and SARChIID (hosted at CCRED). IDTT was also active in policy engagement and advice. As well as being a partner in IDTT, we partnered with IDTT in a research project based on a firm-level survey on 4IR and digital technologies among South African manufacturing firms. We were involved in various activities around the economic implications of and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These included research papers, presentations in various webinars and other virtual events, extensive advice to the Government, and working with different United Nations organisations on the economic response internationally. TalenT managemenT In the course of 2020, our staff complement included administrators Ms Beverly Magome and Mrs Koketso Manyane-Dlangamandla; research assistants Rex Asiama, Santos Bila and Sodiq Tunde; and several affiliated and visiting researchers (Visiting Professors and Associate A shift towards digitisation and the nature of virtual work arrangements drove innovative research outputs and new collaborations. DST-NRF South African Research Chair (SARChI) in Industrial Development
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