Building Zim knowledge, innovation start-up communities

The last article was about establishing Zim start-up communities.

Start-up communities have gained prominence worldwide. This shows their importance in ensuring the establishment of start-ups even at a global level. There are a number of benefits of start-up communities, the main one is that start-up communities help start-ups navigate the obstacles and uncertainties associated with starting a new venture.

This article focuses on the following: Applying community of practice theory to start-up communities; knowledge and innovation as the foundation of start-up communities; setting up state universities as anchor institutions for start-up communities; thematic areas for the Zim knowledge and innovation start-up communities; and establishing Zim knowledge and innovation start-up community partnerships.

Applying community of practice theory to start-up communities

The development of start-up communities is believed to be critical to the successful development of entrepreneurship in the country. There is need to apply communities of practice theory to understand how start-up communities work and how they can be facilitated.

Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavour: a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seeking new forms of expression, a group of engineers working on similar problems, a clique of pupils defining their identity in the school, a network of surgeons exploring novel techniques, a gathering of first-time managers helping each other cope.

A community of practice is not merely a club of friends or a network of connections between people.

It has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest. Membership therefore implies a commitment to the domain, and therefore a shared competence that distinguishes members from other people. In pursuing their interest in their domain, members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other; they care about their standing with each other.

A community of practice is not merely a community of interest–people who like certain kinds of movies, for instance. Members of a community of practice are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of resources,experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems, in short, a shared practice.

This takes time and sustained interaction. Communities develop their practice through a variety of activities.

The following are typical examples of activities: problem solving, request for information, seeking experience, reusing assets, coordination and synergy, building an argument, growing confidence, discussing new developments, documenting projects, identifying gaps in competence and visits to learn from best practice.

Start-up communities are similar to communities of practice, in that the start-up community has a shared domain of interest, this is coordinating with different actors in developing successful start-ups.

They are members who are committed to that area of interest.

They are a community, engaged in joint activities, discussion and sharing information. They are a community of practice in that they share resources, experience, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems through developing start-ups that solve the particular problems that have been identified.

Knowledge and innovation as the foundation of start-up communities

Knowledge and innovation should be the foundation of establishing the Zim knowledge and innovation start-up communities. The term that has been coined to discuss these issues is called the knowledge triangle. The knowledge triangle gained prominence in innovation policy thinking in the early 2000s and was adopted by the European Union in developing the European Institute of Technology.

The Knowledge triangle is defined as ‘the interaction of education, research and innovation. These are the key drivers of a knowledge-based society. It has been explained that the contribution of higher education to jobs and growth can be enhanced through close, effective links between education, research and innovation. These are the three sides of the knowledge triangle.

Setting up state universities as the anchor institutions for the Zim start-up communities

Anchor institutions are defined as those organisations in a community that are not primarily focused on economic development but have significant economic impact and are committed to the community’s long-term stability and prosperity.

In order for a start-up community to be successful, it is important to have these types of organisations involved and invested in the ecosystem.

There is need to make state universities to be the anchor institutions for the Zim knowledge and innovation start-up communities. Since each university was established with a specific mandate, then that university becomes the anchor institution for start-ups in the specific disciplines. So, the university will have an incubation/innovation hub for start-ups that are in line with specific mandate of that university. Then the two largest universities may have incubation/hubs that have start-ups across all other disciplines because their knowledge set is vast.

Anchor institutions are critical to the success of start-up communities. This is so because they have the buildings which are the physical infrastructure, which is critical for the start-ups. The buildings include, office space, lab space which can be used as co-working spaces. Secondly, anchor institutions that is, the state universities can provide funding for research and development, as well as seed funding for start-ups. Thirdly, the state universities serving as anchor institutions, can provide the human capital, such as talent, mentorship and networking opportunities to assist start-ups. Furthermore, the state universities will provide the social capital such as media exposure, partners and access to customers.

All these are very critical for building trust and credibility. Finally, the state universities will provide advocacy at local, provincial and national levels, as well as policy research and analysis. This political capital is necessary for start-ups to manage the regulatory hurdles.

Thematic areas for the Zim knowledge and innovation start-up communities

The Zim knowledge and innovation start-up communities can have thematic areas.

They can be broad to cover all the different sectors of the economy. The thematic areas can be 10 and named after the innovations in the sector as follows: Agricultural innovations; applied science innovations; business/commercial innovations; creative and cultural innovations; innovations in education; digital technologies and engineering innovations; fashion, textiles and beauty innovations; food and beverage innovations; health and medical science innovations; and mining innovations.

These thematic areas will be discussed in detail in the articles which will follow. The thematic areas can focus on the national challenges that the particular sector is facing. Once the start-up community for a specific theme has been established, it can then conduct research to identify the national issues that are critical for the survival of that sector. They can develop an innovation challenge meant to get solutions. The innovation challenge can be targeting start-ups to develop business solutions to addressing the challenges.

Establishing Zim knowledge and innovation start-up community partnerships

The anchor institutions can develop partnerships that will bring together all the different actors critical to the development of start-ups.

These partnerships should bring together actors in business, research and technology organisations, investment community, research funders, charities, foundations, industry regulatory authorities, local, provincial and national government. The aim of the partnerships is to strengthen their cooperation and create favourable environments for creative thought processes and innovation and start-ups to flourish.

The communities will then contribute to developing innovative products and services starting new companies and training a new generation of entrepreneurs. These start-up communities should become the key drivers of sustainable economic growth in Zimbabwe and the African Continent, creating a pathway for Zim start-ups to enter the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Nokuthula G Moyo-Muparuri is a senior lecturer at the Midlands State University in the Faculty of Business Sciences. She is also the founder of the Institute of Applied Entrepreneurship. The mission of the Institute is Start-Up & Innovation Skills Development and Start-Up Ecosystem Development. The Institute has started an initiative of developing Start-Up Zim Communities. This is meant to capacitate those who want to establish Start-Up Communities in their Towns, Cities, Colleges and Universities. Those interested can contact the Institute on +263718747621-ebusinessweekly