Call for Papers: Engineering Design and Innovation for African Development Deadline: 15 January 2017,African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development (AJSTID)

The developmental challenges facing Africa continue to remain complex and multifaceted. These challenges range from the problems of energy security, poor infrastructural facilities, inadequate manufacturing base, limited ICT access, to mention but a few. These problems have uniquely positioned the African continent as a veritable ground for the ready deployment of innovative and practical engineering solutions. These solutions have to be conceptualised and eventually delivered via the engineering design process. The engineering design (D & E) process is often complex, cyclical and iterative but it has the final objective of creating functional innovative products and processes. The process of designing and delivering practical engineering, creative, innovative and entrepreneurial solutions for the developmental challenges in Africa is the focus of this special issue. Recent research by academics (Bell 2013) and reports by international organisations (UNCTAD 2007, UNESCO have highlighted D&E as key components for innovation both in general terms and at the enterprise level. This missing link has been largely not addressing systematically the issues of innovation for development in the Global South in general and Africa in particular. We have undertaken research supported by Africalics and SIDA on D& E in Africa and would like to invite openly researchers to contribute to publish both in the planned special issue in AJSTID and   the book in Taylor & Francis Routledge Publishers. Welcome to contribute original papers to be submitted by June 15, 2016.

 Themes: This special issue of AJSTID calls for original research papers on, but not limited to the broad topics outlined below:

·         The theoretical underpinnings of design and  engineering

·         The conceptual instruments for linking D&E and innovation

·         R&D and D&E in the context of developing countries.

·         Current applications of engineering design

·         Various stages of the engineering design process

·         Analysis of  the design of key technologies

·         Engineering design in the education Curriculum

·          Engineering Design in Indigenous Knowledge

·         Key players in the D&E and stakeholders: identification and level of implication

·         Solutions put up with to solve discussed problems

·         Prospects for the future development of the engineering design research field

·         The D&E gap between North and South

·         The role and importance of Diasporas in bridging the gap: how can they be mobilised.

Manuscripts should describe original and previously unpublished results, which are currently not considered for publication in any other journal. All the manuscripts shall be submitted at http://www.edmgr.com/rajs/default.aspx and will undergo a peer-review process.

Important Dates

Paper submission deadline: 15 of January 2017

First review notification: end of February, 2017

Revisions due: End of April 2017

Second review notification:  End of May 2017

Final manuscript due: End of June 2017

Tentative date of publication: January 2017

Guest Editors

Prof. Mammon Machine (Corresponding Editor), Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa, mammo.muchie@gmail.com

Prof. Abd-el-Kader Djeflat, The Maghtech Network, University of Lille, France,  abdelkader.djeflat@univ-lille1.fr

Dr. Nnamdi Nwulu, SARChI Post-doc fellow Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa, agbaye2000@gmail.com

Useful Links:

http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rajs20/current

www.sarchi-steid.org.za

http://www.africalics.org/