ZIBF champions knowledge economy Obey Bvute
Obey Bvute

Obey Bvute

Stanely Mushava Literature Today

Zimbabwe’s knowledge economy is a starved golden goose left alone to die. Disclosures by our major writers on how fruitless their occupation has become affirm as much.

The flagship edition of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) returns to Harare with a round of timely discussions on the knowledge economy.

The country’s premier literary festival will run under the theme “Growing the Knowledge Economy through Research, Writing, Publishing and Reading” from July 27 to August 1.

Quite clearly, nothing could have been more pertinent at a time when Zimbabwe’s culture industries are in steep decline, and the book sector running down to zero profitability.

Issues up for deliberation include research, writing and the creative industries, marketing and distribution of books, book policy, intellectual property, copyright and heritage knowledge, libraries as temples of knowledge and publishing in the digital revolution.

The need to optimise the knowledge economy cannot be overemphasised and ZIBF merits credit for lighting the touch paper to get the motion going.

Key is to get every head around the idea that knowledge and creativity are not just social utilities,but dormant economic factors whose utilisation is long overdue.

The new ZIBF chairperson Obey Bvute said, in his inaugural media briefing last week, that the development of a knowledge-based economy is centrally linked to globalisation.

Bvute pointed out that growing the knowledge economy is a process which involves the convergence of economic, social, political, scientific and technological dimensions.

Poor connectivity between these sectors has seen the knowledge economy drop to an all-time low, pending strategic synergies to get the sector working again.

“In understanding the need to develop a knowledge economy in Zimbabwe, ZIBFA appreciates the idea that educators, writers, book publishers, booksellers and librarians are a service sector that can be legitimately tapped by the knowledge economic market,” Bvute said.

He said that the book fair is working anew based on the need to promote knowledge management as an important driver of economic growth and development, in line with the global knowledge economic developments and ZimAsset.

The knowledge economy includes the literary arts, research, publishing and the print media, audiovisual outlets, new media, traditional cultural expressions, visual arts, cultural sites and design.

Zimbabwe’s knowledge economy is a starved golden goose left alone to die. Disclosures by our major writers on how fruitless their occupation has become affirm as much.

With strategic investment, however, the knowledge economy can take its place among other pillar sectors of the economy.

While this may sound more of a sentimental score than a business insight, figures from around the globe attest to that.

African Arts Institute executive director Mike van Graan blames the continent’s failure to meaningfully invest in the creative industries for prejudicing it of billions in potential revenue.

In an African Business cover story headed “African Creative Industries: The Sleeping Giant,” van Graan bemoans the continent’s failure to make the most of the knowledge economy, though the sector has posted an upbeat performance globally, with a show of immunity to recession.

“To give an idea of the magnitude of the creative economy and its overall economic impact, a recent study forecast that the global entertainment and media industry alone injected around $2,2 trillion in the world economy in 2012,” van Graan points out.

While the growth trajectory has remained upbeat at an annual rate of 8,7 percent, grossing $592 billion in 2008 at a time when other sectors were down with a debilitating financial, developing countries only contributed less than 1 percent to the success story.

There is everything, therefore, to be gained from harnessing the value of the knowledge economy and the ZIBF must be credited for leading us that way.

ZIBF’s time machine appears to be sufficiently calibrated, as the fair yearly keeps us posted with exciting trends. However, the snag is poor follow-up by stakeholders.

While the book fair is a cultural festival not a legislative session, it has the capacity to be more than a talking shop where stakeholders meet to exchange ear candy and academic abstractions only to revert to business as usual.

Efforts made by the organisers to interface all strategic players including the Arts and Education ministries must be fully utilised to create an optimal setting for our culture industries, especially the terminally underperforming book sector.

Hopefully, deliberations this month will get everyone working around the clock to bring back maximum productivity and profitability to the book sector.

Bvute spoke on the need to develop avenues for action-oriented dialogue that promotes the exchange of ideas and innovative thinking among researchers, writers, publishers, academics, readers and Zimbabwean policy-makers.

He said ZIBF looks to encourage and enhance research on economic and policy issues related to the development of knowledge economies and to provide an opportunity for young Zimbabwean writers and researchers to share their work with the global community on knowledge-based economic development.

“The impact of e-education, e-library and other e-based media platforms on the book publishing industry, the deteriorating economic performance that impacts on economic costs of book publishing, writer’s returns and welfare, market penetration and development of affordable education in line with global education and knowledge development trends,” Bvute said, will be highlights of this year’s indaba.

He also stressed the need to reconfigure the ZIBF model in line with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education’s 2015-22 curriculum blueprint.

“The new era at ZIBFA will also foster transformation through advocacy and coordinated action plans of the book industry aimed at the creation of new product types enabled by digital technologies,” Bvute said.

“New publishing models are emerging in response to demand for real-time dissemination of information, for example, the Open Access Model, dynamic content, more collaborative research and authoring environments and usage of rich media.

“This will see promotion of innovation where Zimbabwe will be able to develop or acquire digital technologies to publish course materials for global distribution in a way that has never been contemplated in the print era.

“ZIBFA will also foster new ways for content creation and publication, help to develop alternative distribution models that broaden access, reduce costs, and enable open sharing of content,” he said.

Bvute also promised that ZIBFA will actively focus on anti-piracy to promote the welfare and intellectual property rights of writers and publishers.

“This will require us to collectively look at new ways of curbing piracy and learn from other countries on how they protect intellectual property rights even in the face of both the print and digital knowledge economy,” Bvute said.

“Prior submissions on this aspect will be consolidated and evaluated on their impacts and outcomes and fed into the new initiative to be implemented.

“Focus shall also be on how to raise financial resources for ZIBFA outside traditional donor channels so that our book fair will be benchmarked against international best practice shown by big fairs such as Frankfurt Book Fair and the Guadalajara Book Fair,” he said.

Bvute revealed that the book fair this year features new activities including the Junior Achievers Competition, Teachers’ Square, Book Voucher Purchase Scheme, School Prizes for the best performing schools in 2014 exams and Poetry Slam.

The traditional package featuring the Exhibitions, Writers’ Workshop, Publishers, Booksellers and Librarians Workshop, Meet the Author Sessions, Live Literature Centre, Children’s Reading Tent and the Digital Zone will remain part of the fair.

“So far, preparations are at an advanced stage and we are receiving confirmation from several international, regional and local writers and distributors among others who will attend the fair,” Bvute said.

Zimbabwe’s premier literary festival is partnered by Culture Fund in partnership with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), Norcode/Kopinor, Norwegian Embassy, HIVOS and the British Council.

In recent years, ZIBF has been reaching out to all the major cities in an effort to keep the reading culture alive nationwide.

An annual coterie of international delegates has also retained the international perspective in recent year.

With a fresh package afoot, ZIBF hopefully gets the nation reading again.

Stanely Mushava blogs at upstreamafrica.blogspot.com

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