- Convenors:
-
Emmanuel Ejim-Eze
(National Centre for Technology Management)
Deborah Ejim-Eze (Obafemi Awolowo University)
Kehinde Oluwaseun Omotoso (University of South Africa)
Gordon Bubou (University of Pretoria)
Send message to Convenors
- Chair:
-
Emmanuel Ejim-Eze
(National Centre for Technology Management)
- Format:
- Paper panel
- Stream:
- Agents of development: Communities, movements, volunteers and workers
Short Abstract
Innovations may unfold amid persistent uncertainties & predictable policy shifts. By highlighting how power and agency are negotiated in volatile environments, this panel seeks contributions that re-imagine development as a process rooted not in stability, but in resilience & creative adaptation.
Description
Innovation processes in the Global South increasingly unfold in contexts marked by deep uncertainty, economic instability, policy inconsistency, currency fluctuations, and governance fragility. This panel seeks contributions on studies that have explored how firms, research institutions, and intermediaries navigate and adapt to such unpredictable environments. Drawing on perspectives from innovation systems theory, evolutionary economics, and development studies, the panel interrogates how uncertainty shapes learning dynamics, collaboration, and technological trajectories. We seek
Contributions on diverse cases across Africa, Asia, and Latin America to highlight how innovation actors devise coping strategies; ranging from informal knowledge networks and flexible partnerships to frugal and non-technological innovations that enable survival and adaptation. We also need to how state and non-state institutions mediate uncertainty through policy experimentation, digitalization, and international linkages.
By juxtaposing experiences from developing and emerging economies, the panel aims to illuminate the mechanisms through which innovation occurs despite instability, and how these mechanisms reconfigure notions of resilience, agency, and institutional learning within innovation systems. Ultimately, it asks: How can innovation systems be re-imagined to thrive under volatility rather than be constrained by it? The discussions in the panel will contribute to the Development Studies Association’s 2026 theme of “Power, Agency, and Futures” by uncovering how innovation actors exercise agency and negotiate power asymmetries in crafting alternative futures amidst structural uncertainty.
Accepted papers
Paper short abstract
This paper explores Zimbabwe’s fintech sector as a ‘shadow innovation system’ emerging from economic chaos. Using qualitative fieldwork, it uncovers how digital finance enables adaptive agency, informal development, and the remaking of financial citizenship-innovation under structural uncertainty.
Paper long abstract
Radical monetary fluctuations, including hyperinflation, devaluation, and fluctuating exchange rates, characterise the Zimbabwean economy. The financial sector in Zimbabwe is unstable, leading to the development of a thriving fintech industry operating in a grey area. This paper illustrates that fintechpreneurs, M-Pesa agents, and citizens in both Harare and Bulawayo are conducting financial experiments that exhibit resilience and resourcefulness, which deserve appreciation.
Method: a qualitative research design using semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and digital transaction mapping to explore three research themes: (1) fintech services such as Ecocash, Zipit, & Mukuru, and emerging cryptocurrencies addressing conditions; (2) informal mobile money services as a coping mechanism to address shortages of cash and foreign exchange; (3) multi-currency exchange and informal exchange rates employed through fintech platforms to stabilize household and small business finances.
Theoretically, building on evolutionary innovation systems and Southern theory approaches, it constitutes a “shadow innovation system” – it is more than a hack, an infrastructural support of economic activities in conditions of uncertainty. Its recognition acknowledges local intelligence and creativity in innovation driven by necessity at the margins of the economy. This research makes significant interventions in thinking about innovation studies by highlighting how Zimbabweans remake development trajectories in uncertain environments and how fintech serves as a living lab in which financial citizenship is produced out of state failure. This study provides new theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding the politics of innovation in conditions of uncertainty, highlighting how survivability, resiliency, and subversion mediate innovation in the Global South.
Paper short abstract
This paper examines blockchain adoption and innovation in Nigeria amid regulatory uncertainty. Using sectoral and comparative evidence, it shows how ambiguity constrains institutions yet catalyses grassroots innovation, with implications for financial inclusion and adaptive regulation.
Paper long abstract
Blockchain technology adoption in Nigeria has expanded rapidly over the past decade despite persistent regulatory uncertainty and fragmented policy frameworks. This paper examines how blockchain innovation and use have evolved in such an institutional context and assesses the implications for development outcomes. Drawing on secondary data from blockchain analytics, policy documents, and comparative evidence from Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa, the study analyses adoption patterns across key sectors, including payments, remittances, and decentralised finance (DeFi).
The paper conceptualises regulatory uncertainty not only as a constraint on formal institutional participation but also as a catalyst for alternative, decentralised, and peer-to-peer innovation pathways. Macroeconomic pressures—such as inflation, exchange-rate volatility, and high transaction costs—combined with strong digital entrepreneurship and developer communities, have driven widespread grassroots adoption of blockchain solutions in Nigeria. As a result, innovation has largely occurred outside traditional regulatory and financial institutions, reshaping the structure of digital financial services.
Comparative analysis highlights Nigeria’s distinctive adoption profile relative to peer African economies, characterised by high retail usage and decentralised innovation rather than predominantly regulated institutional deployment. While these dynamics have supported financial inclusion and reduced transaction costs, they also raise governance, consumer protection, and systemic risk concerns.
The paper contributes to debates on innovation under institutional uncertainty by demonstrating how regulatory ambiguity shapes technology diffusion in developing economies. It concludes by proposing adaptive and coordinated regulatory approaches that can support responsible blockchain innovation while preserving its development potential.
Paper short abstract
This research examines how humanitarian aid can support locally-led education systems by leveraging their complex adaptive traits. It explores middle-tier capacity building and localization efforts on the Thai-Myanmar border to strengthen sustainable educational responses during protracted crises.
Paper long abstract
As protracted conflicts escalate globally, over 473 million children now live in crisis-affected contexts (Østby & Rustad, 2024), demanding education responses that move beyond interim solutions toward sustainable, locally-led systems (Burde et al., 2017; Winthrop & Matsui, 2013). This presentation investigates how humanitarian aid approaches can more effectively support education systems operating as complex adaptive systems (CAS) during emergencies, drawing on research in four settings on the Thai-Myanmar border. The analysis builds on comparative case studies which synthesize the perspectives of Karen and Karenni education authorities, teachers, teacher trainers, and international non-government organizations. Building on research demonstrating that locally-led education systems sustain effective programming through decentralized governance and adaptive feedback mechanisms (Tyrosvoutis, 2025; Rinehart, Layi Chan, and Tyrosvoutis, 2025), this presentation examines organizational features enabling resilience during crises. However, these systems often remain undermined by centralized donor requirements and rigid compliance frameworks (Haines & Buchanan, 2023; Décobert, 2020) that fail to recognize their complex adaptive capacity. This presentation addresses two critical questions: How can aid approaches support long-term strengthening of education systems and the redistribution power by leveraging systems’ complex adaptive traits? What agency do middle-tier actors exhibit in emergency settings and what, if any, capacity building is needed to move beyond mere responsibility transfer? This presentation seeks to challenge neocolonial aid practices (Menashy & Shields, 2017) by centering local agency and contested educational futures emerging from communities' own contexts, needs, and aspirations, ultimately providing actionable guidance for decolonizing humanitarian education service delivery.