ASSIGNMENTS
2010 Analyst/researcher to Nordic Council of Ministers on collaboration on fishery, agriculture, food and forestry in the Baltic Sea Region.
2010 Lead analyst on WWF-Sida project “Accelerating climate innovation and entrepreneurship in Kenya". The assessment will study the prevailing framework conditions for enhancing national climate innovation systems in Kenya i.e. the day-to-day reality and available resources for climate entrepreneurs work in Kenya. Also the assessment will propose preferred systems for technology transfer that will enable Kenyan climate innovation entrepreneurs to develop and grow.
2009-10 Facilitator/coordinator of the African European Climate Innovation Initiative. AECII is an initiative to support private and public partners in African and Europe in developing and deploying climate innovations that accelerate climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, poverty alleviation and private sector growth. Founding partners: WWF, Sida, SICD and Innogate.
2009-10 Adviser/facilitator in connection to the organization of the 2nd Pan-African Competitiveness Forum, 15-17 February 2010 in Elmina, Ghana, February 2010. PACF is a continent wide learning platform and centre of thought on innovation and cluster-competitiveness in Africa. PACF was launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in April 2008.
2009-10 Lead analyst on cluster mapping in Ghana (under MOTI and World Bank MSME project). The project will map existing and emerging clusters and identify opportunities for enhancing innovation, value addition in production and competitiveness of enterprises operating in clusters..
2009 Moderator during conference by The Competitiveness Institute “3rd International Rural Clusters Conference”, Denmark 1-2 September 2009.
2009 Lead analyst on WWF-Sida project “Accelerating climate innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa. The assessment demonstrate that Ghana and Tanzania face unique challenges in mitigating and adapting to climate change. It ALSO demonstrates that confronting these challenges reveals a number of new unique opportunities for addressing poverty alleviation – in particular by promoting climate innovation and entrepreneurship activities.
2009 Adviser to the Nordic Council of Ministers on the European Union strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.
2008 Facilitator and Coordinator. Planning and organization of the European-African Climate Innovation Symposium, Karlshamn, Sweden, 15-16 December 2008. The Symposium is hosted by Blekinge Institute of Technology with support from Sida, and in collaboration with WWF Sweden, Globe Forum, Netport and the Pan African Competitiveness Forum (PACF). The symposium aims to identify opportunities for realizing new growth and development opportunities in Europe and Africa - and at the same time mitigate climate change
2008 Facilitator. Planning and organization of conference session on Climate Innovation and Competitiveness at the 11th Annual Conference of The Competitiveness Institute, Cape Town, South Africa, 28-30 October 2008.
2008 Facilitator and Coordinator. Planning and organization of PACF Council Meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, 28-29 August 2008. 40 stakeholders from business, knowledge institutions and governments in 10 African countries participated at the Forum.
2008 Advisor, trainer and facilitator. Launch of Kumasi Wood Cluster Initiative - in collaboration with SPEED Ghana (Danida/GTZ) and Wood Industries Training Centre (Forestry Commission). The initiative aims to encourage innovation through new stakeholder partnerships with a view to position Kumasi as competitive hub within Ghana and West Africa for sustainable production of high quality and high value wood products.
2008 Facilitator and Coordinator. Planning and organization of the 1st Pan African Competitiveness Forum, 14-16 April 2008. Host organizations were Sida, AU and TCI. 150 stakeholders from business, knowledge institutions and governments in more than 30 countries participated at the Forum.
2008 Facilitator. Organization of symposium on Nordic-African Innovation Competitiveness hosted by VINNOVA, Sweden. The symposium took place on 23-24 January 2008 and brought together 20 leading stakeholders from national innovation agencies and development agencies in Denmark, Finland and Sweden.
2007 Facilitator. Organisation of and follow-up on Innovation and Competitiveness Symposium in Cape Town 17-18 September. The symposium organised by The Competitiveness Institute (TCI), the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA), the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), The Swedish Trade Council and the Department of Economic Development, Western Cape Government.
2007 Facilitator. Development and launch of the Pan-African Competitiveness Forum, PACF (by Sida, AU, TCI and more). PACF is a new continent wide learning platform and centre of thought on innovation and cluster-competitiveness in Africa.
2007 Facilitator/adviser. Development of implementation framework for cluster-competitiveness initiatives in Garment (Accra), Wood Products (Kumasi) and Natural Plant Products (Ho). For SPEED Ghana (GTZ, Danida).
2007 Analyst. Feasibility study “Promotion of competitiveness and innovation through cluster initiatives” in collaboration with The Danida Centre, University of Ghana Business School. The study was sponsored by SPEED Ghana (GTZ/Danida).
2006 Analyst. Review on 10 years of cluster and cluster-like initiatives in Ghana; experiences and lessons learned. The paper was prepared for the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) as input to “The Programme on Sustainable Economic Development”.
2006 Facilitator. Organisation of and follow-up on conference session on promotion of cluster initiatives and innovation policies in Africa at the 9th Annual Conference of The Competitiveness Institute. The “Pan-African Competitiveness Forum” - a Pan-African learning platform on cluster initiatives and innovation systems - was established as a response to the conference session conclusions.
2006 Facilitator. Facilitation (in cooperation with The Danida Centre at University of Ghana Business School and The Competitiveness Institute) of the initiative “partnerships4competitiveness”. The initiative aims to bring on board the tool box provided by innovation systems and cluster initiatives for development of private sector competitiveness and growth in West Africa.
2006 Analyst. Review “Cluster Initiatives in the Southern Hemisphere”. The study included experiences and lessons learned from cluster initiatives in Chile, Australia and South Africa. The paper was prepared as input to The Northern Dimension Working Group on Cluster Development Policies of The Nordic Council of Ministers.
2005-6 Analyst. Ghana country review on Global Value Chains (GVC). The review included an assessment of how the GVC-approach is – and is not – being used for private sector policy and incentive development. It also included a discussion of design of future GVC policies and services.
2005 Project manager. Implementation of collaboration among 11 countries in the Nordic and Baltic Sea Region aimed at identifying and sharing good practices for entrepreneurship, development of small businesses and increased innovative/competitive capacity.
2004-5 Facilitator. Development and facilitation of a participatory platform for regional dialogue among stakeholders in the Nordic and Baltic Sea Region from companies, academia and governments focusing on building-/developing innovations systems and cluster initiatives.
2004-5 Project manager. Initiation of transnational collaboration within the construction sector aimed at creating a genuine internal market among the 11 countries involved in Nordic and Baltic Sea Region.
2001-4 Project manager. Project design and implementation of collaborations between private and public stakeholders aiming at providing more efficient incentives for entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship culture/education, smoother regulatory frameworks for SMEs and increased innovative/competitive capacity.
2001-4 Facilitator. Initiation of business-to-business collaborations aimed at providing critical mass in competencies and thereby competitive advantages of industrial sectors.
1998-2001 Programme manager. European Union regional private sector development programmes for regions in transition and/or structural difficulty. The assignment included programme development, negotiation with stakeholders, programme implementation, monitoring, evaluations and financial management.
1996-98 Programme manager. Design, negotiation, monitoring and evaluation of private sector development programmes mainly aimed at increasing the number of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs’ survival rate and effective corporate governance structures of established SMEs.
1996-98 Programme manager. Design, negotiation, monitoring and evaluation of public-private-partnerships aimed at, at the same time increasing companies’ competitiveness; establish effective corporate governance structures; and increase the quality of public services.
1996- Publicity campaigning. Programme and project awareness and information dissemination activities - including organisation of seminars, conferences, press releases, newsletters, web pages etc.
1996- Researcher. Monitoring and identification of deficiencies for private sector development and private-public-partnerships. Subsequent policy development of incentives to accommodate these deficiencies (be it for example educational, cultural, regulatory or financial deficiencies).
