Development of 21st Century Skills for Innovation and Enterprise: Exploring the role of Informal Learning Environments in the Development of Skills and Aptitudes

The Role of Innovation Hubs in Developing DCM Skills

Technology innovation hubs and incubators are springing up in a number of African countries, gathering technology entrepreneurs for networking, knowledge sharing, idea generation, and co-creation of new ventures. These innovation spaces are increasingly contributing to economic development in Africa (Moraa, 2012b). They facilitate rapid technological advancement, speedy access to ideas and experiences, as well as development of technical and/or entrepreneurial skills through training, workshops, talks by experts, mentoring and coaching, and interaction and collaboration in open innovation spaces.

Innovation spaces also contribute to access to financial aid for start-ups, collaboration and networking, research, and competition in which innovative ideas are identified and shaped, as well as encouraging exchange of information (Moraa & Wangeci, 2012). At the same time, some innovation spaces, especially in rural areas of Africa enable the linking of communities, facilitate businesses, and empower communities both socially and economically (Arc-Kenya, n.d; Macha Works, 2012). Increasing access to information and communication services in rural and underserved areas is crucial in accelerating development as they form part of the innovation ecosystem. Innovation spaces have been used as a conduit to encourage and spur innovation by transforming the ideas of the graduates and young entrepreneurs into real products (Moraa & Murage, 2012).
Entrepreneurs congregate in innovation spaces to bounce ideas around, network, work, learn, programme, and design to turn their ideas into actions. These spaces seem to offer an ideal environment to nurture such fresh graduates. This is achieved through encouraging cohesion, co-working and entrepreneurship spirit (Moraa & Murage, 2012).
Some of these spaces have emerged from independent initiatives, such as single entrepreneurs or small groups of entrepreneurs joining hands to form a collaborative space, such as the iHub in Nairobi (White, 2011). Others have been formed by governments, such as the Botswana Innovation Hub in Gaborone, with others being formed by academic institutions, such as iLabAfrica at Strathmore University in Nairobi (Hersman, 2012). Some hubs serve as incubation and training spaces, others co-working environments, yet others as urban community spaces, or even rural community spaces such as the Macha Works in Zambia.
These innovation spaces may also be described as business or innovation incubators, innovation hubs or living labs (Cunningham, Herselman,. & Cunningham, 2011; Zulu & Goredema, 2012). Other relevant terms used to describe these spaces include open innovation and collaborative space. It is thus worth exploring briefly the meaning of these key terms.
An innovation hub focuses on developers, whereas an incubation hub or centre focuses more on entrepreneurs with start-up businesses which need to be supported to grow, stabilize, and be up-scaled. An innovation hub is a collaborative, community-owned, open work environment for young technology entrepreneurs looking to focus on projects, access computing resources and bandwidth, have a quiet professional environment to develop their ideas, and collaborate with one another. Young technology entrepreneurs can also gain access to a network of investors looking to support some of the more promising ideas for investment (Mutua, 2010). An incubation hub provides a workspace/workstation for the start-up, high speed internet and operational support, planned speed dating meetings with angel investors and venture capitalists, access to mentorship and coaching by experts at no cost, office hours with business management team to support them during tough times, and clients and contract referrals from the hub, among others (NaiLab, n.d).
The difference between an innovation hub and an incubation hub can be illustrated by the difference between iHub (an innovation hub) and NaiLab (an incubation hub):

The iHub and NaiLab are largely symbiotic although we may compete. Nailab sees itself as less of a competitor and more of a value add to what ihub does, the ihub is an open tech space where you can benchmark your skills, meet new people, get contacts, network and collaborate on projects as soon as you are ready with a product and need incubation and acceleration the NaiLab takes over and moves you from that level to the point where you build your idea into an actual viable business (NaiLab, n.d).
A living lab has been defined in various ways. The European Commission indicates that Living Labs are:

Open innovation environments in real-life settings, in which user-driven innovation is fully integrated within the co-creation process of new services, products and societal infrzastructures’. (European Commission, 2009, p.5).

According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Living Lab, ‘Living Labs bring together interdisciplinary experts to develop, deploy, and test – in actual living environments – new technologies and strategies for design that respond to this changing world’ (MIT, n.d, n.p). The European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL)’s definition of Living Labs identifies and qualifies five key dimensions of Living Labs:

1. 
   Innovation settings (‘open innovation environment’);
   
2. 
   Operating environments (‘real-life settings’);
   
3. 
   Affecting innovation processes (‘user-driven innovation’ and ‘co-creation process’);
   
4. 
   User engagement; and
   
5. 
   Innovation outcomes (‘new services, products and societal infrastructures’) (ENoLL, 2011 in Cunningham, Herselman, & Cunningham, 2011).
   

Open innovation is key to the success of innovation spaces. This is the process of combining internal and external ideas, as well as internal and external paths to market and advance the development of new technologies (Moraa, 2012a). It is the act of entrepreneurs, investors and techs interacting to create a nexus point of innovation (Moraa & Murage, 2012). Open innovation is made possible in a collaborative space. These spaces, as found in innovation hubs and living labs, offer a welcoming, open, and fun environment where members can share experience, skills, and friendship. In this way, a collaborative model is created that facilitates open discussions among young entrepreneurs, investors, potential business partners, mentors, and other experienced members of the community (Moraa, 2012a).