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Industrial Development

TIPS’s traditional focus for this pillar has been South Africa, supporting  the dti in advancing its industrial policy. This has been expanded to the region. Building a regional industrial platform needs to integrate trade and industrial policy, and we have an existing foundation through the Thematic Working Group we host in the region under the Southern African Development Research Network (SADRN). Research is also needed on how to increase the competitiveness of local and regional industry and on how to support complementary industrial development efforts. South Africa is developing industrial development strategies at a sector level. TIPS has been involved in this and there is scope to introduce a regional angle. Linking with opportunities in other emerging economies in the South is another focus.

Research is required both in South Africa and beyond into the region on how best to increase the competitiveness of both local and regional industry. The concept of building successful regional value chains is yet to be fully explored, which alludes to another area of key policy importance, namely the integration of trade and industrial policy. This is a crucial policy issue being tackled in South Africa and progressively in the region, including how best to combine both offensive and defensive measures in the context of developing industrial policy, for example.

South Africa is in the process of developing comprehensive industrial development strategies at a sectoral level. TIPS has been intimately involved in this process and there is much scope to introduce a regional angle to this in going forward. This is particularly the case as South Africa is seeking to refine its industrial policy objectives to meet overall development imperatives including poverty reduction and growth in employment, as well as introducing more environmentally sustainable production methods. 

Useful Publications

 

Recent Related Publications

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Economic Sector Reviews

Provided below are reviews of each of the major economic sectors in South Africa. The reviews provide an overview of economic trends in each sector, and form important contextual background for the additional research under the project. 

 

Economic Regulation