On November 14-15, 2023, GW Law’s Professor Christopher Yukins joined the International Conference on Public Procurement and Innovation in Africa (livestream available), coordinated by Professor Geo Quinot (Stellenbosch University) and held through the National Research Foundation in Pretoria, South Africa. A focus of the conference was South Africa’s pending legislation on public procurement. Chris Yukins spoke on the U.S. government’s use of procurement as an engine for innovation through the Small Business Innovation Research program, which is administered through a policy directive from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Each year, SBA notes, U.S. federal agencies with “research and development (R&D) budgets that exceed $100 million are required to allocate 3.2% . . . of this extramural R&D budget to fund small businesses through the SBIR program.” The U.S. SBIR program funds on average 4,000 projects for a total of roughly US$4 billion annually. The SBIR program, which has been extensively studied, was an inspiration for the European Union’s “Innovation Partnerships” strategy under the EU Procurement Directives, and for the United Kingdom’s Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) (see 2017 study; 2022 study).
Chris Yukins Presentation Slides
The Pretoria conference is just one of several collaborations between GW Law and Stellenbosch University. GW Law’s Dean Jessica Tillipman is co-editing a book on anti-corruption with Stellenbosch’s Professor Sope Williams, and Allison Anthony, deputy director of the African Procurement Law Unit at Stellenbosch and senior lecturer at the University of South Africa, has joined GW Law as a visiting scholar and LLM candidate.
Songezo Mabece, an experienced attorney and public servant whose c.v. includes stints at both Stellenbosch University and GW Law School, helped moderate the conference and continues his good work in South Africa; including as a radio broadcaster.