Data on line
RSVP PROTOCOLO DE RESERVACIÓN DE RECURSOS
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One of the barriers to regional collaboration in general and the implementation of regional R&D and innovation programmes in Africa is limited funding. Often it is also the lack of capacities among regional institutions to raise or mobilize funding. Many AU, NEPAD, SADC and other regional initiatives are underfunded. Generally, the production of regional public goods is underfunded. Financial contributions from national governments tend to be low and unpredictable. There are few external donors funding regional programmes, particularly those dedicated to promoting technological innovation. Many of these donors tend to fund a few projects as opposed to whole programmes.
The success of African regional programmes for R&D and technological innovation will depend on new kinds of funding alliances involving governments, bilateral and multilateral donors, private foundations, and businesses. In the past African governments have tended to design programmes and create new institutions without having clear strategies and agreements on sources and levels of funding. African countries have also tended to adopt programmes with many projects—often long lists of activities without funding. It is crucial that SADC and other regional bodies draw lessons from the past efforts. Lessons should also be learnt from such initiatives as the proposed African Science and Innovation Fund (ASIF) and the African Foundation for Research and Development (Afrand). The two institutions or mechanisms have not yet been established after many years of discussion with no financial commitments from African and international sources.
Options for long-term funding for SADC and Africa-wide R&D and innovation programmes are not many. First and foremost African countries must make and fulfil financial commitments. Various measures should be instituted to ensure that countries that do not contribute to regional R&D and innovation initiatives stay out of the regional cooperative arrangements. Conditions for participation should be clear and agreed upon by countries. Secondly, it is important that countries focus on a few carefully selected initiatives as opposed to too many projects. For example, in the case of SADC the choice would be a focus on establishing and funding a regional engineering network or a network dedicated energy research and innovation. Focusing on one initiative would enable countries to pool resources and have bigger scale operations for a longer time. There is need for SADC to rally donors, private businesses, private foundations, and member states around a particular well designed initiative.
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SUMMARY OF KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
This study shows that there many actions and activities that African governments, RECs, continental bodies such as the African Union (AU) and NEPAD, and bilateral and multilateral donors as well as private foundations need to take in order to promote the production and application of knowledge for Africa’s development. Many of the interventions need to be taken by governments at national levels. There is also need to invest in regional collective actions that will pool shared resources to address common challenges. Key recommendations of the study are based on the recognition that all can not be done at once. It is therefore crucial to organize and sequence actions to ensure that maximum impacts are made. Our key recommendations are:
1. African governments need to do much more to improve the climates or conditions for R&D and technological innovation. Most of them need to establish national processes that will develop explicit innovation policy regimes and update existing R&D or science and technology policies. The design of innovation policy regimes is a knowledge and information intensive effort. A good strategy should cover such issues as intellectual property protection, skills development, enterprise development, diversified funding mechanisms, commercialization of knowledge, etc. The World Bank should work with governments by identifying and providing to them (or assisting them to procure) expertise and appropriate conceptual frameworks for innovation policy development.
2. In most African countries there is poor understanding of innovation—what it is, how it takes place and its features. Often many African policymakers and even scientists reduce technological innovation to science or R&D. There is need to improve understanding of innovation and ways of promoting it in African economies. Workshops and policymakers’ briefs or guides on technological innovation would be very useful in raising awareness and understanding among government officials and other stakeholders. The donor community and national governments may wish to commission or undertake studies of good practices in promoting innovation and growing national systems of innovation.
3. Most of the countries continue to rely on traditional institutional arrangements for organizing and promoting R&D. They do not have agencies dedicated to promoting innovation. We recommend that the countries should explore ways and means of establishing National Innovation Agencies or Authorities (NIAs) that would be responsible for overseeing the implementation of national innovation policies and strategies.
4. The study showed that many of the countries have R&D institutions of low quality with poor infrastructure. Scientific research and related innovation activities are not adequately conducted because laboratories and libraries are not well equipped. It is crucial that African governments give high priority to developing and improving infrastructure for R&D. In this regard each country should allocate a certain percentage of its R&D budget to infrastructure development. Where possible governments should establish specific R&D infrastructure funds and ensure that adequate resources are allocated to such funds.
5. For many countries there is scanty data and information (e.g. on public and private sectors’ expenditure on R&D, skills base in sciences and engineering, and technology exports). UNESCO and NEPAD are working with some of the countries to undertake R&D and innovation surveys. Emphasis of these efforts is however mainly on R&D. There is a limited focus on producing data and information on technological activities and innovation in industrial manufacturing in firms, including large FDI and SMEs. The World Bank and other knowledge agencies should invest in innovation-type studies that will generate data and information on technological innovation in African and Africa-based firms. National governments should be encouraged to conduct firm- level innovation audits. The work of UNESCO and NEPAD should be scaled-up to cover most African countries.
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6. Expertise or skills in science and innovation policy analysis are in very short supply in most of Africa. Decision-makers are not able to get the best evidence and advice on science and innovation policy issues because there are no institutions with dedicated programmes for science and innovation policy studies. African universities are not training in science and innovation policy. This study recommends that the World Bank and donors should work with a selected number of African universities to develop and offer courses in science, technology and innovation policy. This could take the form of an African Network of Excellence in Science and Innovation Policy Studies. The courses can be organized as short courses or graduate and PhD research oriented studies.
7. At the regional levels and in SADC in particular it is crucial that countries work together to develop a common regional/SADC innovation strategy with clear benchmarks. A good regional innovation strategy should have measurable targets focusing on specific technological fields and development sectors. We have recommended that SADC countries should consider focusing initially on building shared capacities in engineering by establishing a network of centres of excellence in engineering. Such a network would be given resources to develop energy technologies and build skills through training. Alliance of countries, donors and private sector would be established to pool funding for the network of excellence in engineering and energy technology development.
8. SADC Secretariat may wish to focus more on promoting more regional cooperation for technological learning and innovation by establish a regional policy dialogue and experiences sharing platform. This would be a platform on which countries share information on what they are doing to promote technological innovation. It can be designed as a web-based electronic interactive platform with the best available papers on innovation policies, national systems of innovation, and case studies of good practices in innovation policy design and governance of national systems of innovation.
9. There is a body of technological information and innovations in local communities and national patent offices that are underutilized. As stated earlier, patent offices are not being adequately used in many African countries and local innovations largely unknown. SADC countries should invest in common technology prospecting exercises in order to document existing underutilized local innovations and should also design strategies to promote better use of information in patent offices.
CONCLUSIONS
This study has reviewed national and regional science, technology and innovation priorities, policies and programmes of African countries in general and in particular 19 countries that were selected by the World Bank Institute. Emphasis was placed on strengths and characteristics of national systems of innovation as well as efforts to develop regional science, technology and innovation cooperation in SADC. The study shows that there are efforts by most countries of the region to strengthen their systems of innovation. This is manifested in the high number of countries that are designing new policies, reforming their education systems, establishing institutions or instruments for funding R&D, and creating new institutions. Despite these efforts national systems of innovation of many of the countries are still weak. Most of the countries are not ready and capable of seizing new opportunities arising with rapid scientific and technological development, intensifying regionalization and globalization, increased FDI flows, political stability, and better macroeconomic conditions in Africa. The study has recommended activities and actions that are required in order to strengthen national systems of innovation and generally improve technological performance of the countries.
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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aubert, J.-E., (2004), ‘Promoting Innovation in Developing Countries: A Conceptual Framework’. World Bank Institute, Washington, DC.
Biggs, T., Shah, M., and Srivastava, P. (1995), Technological Capabilities and Learning in African Enterprises. World Bank Technical Paper No. 285.
Crawford, M. et al. 2006. Review of World Bank Lending for Science and Technology, 1980-2004. World Bank, Washington, DC, USA.
Juma, C., and Yee-Cheong, L., (2005), Innovation: Applying Knowledge in Development. Earthscan, UK.
Juma, C., ed., (2005), Going for Growth: Science, Technology and Innovation in Africa. The Smith Institute, UK.
Juma, C., and Serageldin, I., Lead Authors (2007), Freedom to Innovate: Biotechnology in Africa’s Development. A Report of the High-Level African Panel on Modern Biotechnology. African Union 1(AU) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
Lundvall, B.-A., et. al. (2002), ‘National systems of production, innovation and competence building’, Research Policy 31(2002) 213-231. Elsevier.
NEPAD (2006), Africa’s Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action. New Partnership for Africa’s Development, Pretoria.
Republic of South Africa (2007), Technology Innovation Agency Bill, para 3. Government Gazette No 30164 of 17 August 2007.
OECD (2007), OECD Reviews of Innovation Policy: South Africa. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris.
SARUA (2008), Science and Technology: A Baseline Study on Science and Technology and Higher Education in the SADC Region. Southern Africa Regional Universities Association, Johannesburg South Africa.
Schmoch, U., (2005), ‘The Knowledge Basis of Africa—Status and Perspectives’. Paper for Globelics 2005.
UNDP (2001), Human Development Report 2001, Making New Technologies Work for Human Development. United Nations Development Programme, New York.
UNCTAD (2003), Africa’s Technology Gap. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Geneva.
UNCTAD (2007), The Least Developed Countries Report 2007: Knowledge, Technological Learning and Innovation for Development. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Geneva.
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UNIDO (2008), Creating an enabling environment for private sector development in sub-Saharan Africa. United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Vienna.
Watkins, A., and Ehst, M., editors (2008), Science, Technology, and Innovation: Capacity Building for Sustainable Growth and Poverty Reduction. World Bank, Washington, DC.
Watkins, A., and Verma, A., editors (2008), Building Science, Technology and Innovation Capacity in Rwanda: Developing Practical Solutions to Practical Problems. World Bank, Washington, DC. WIPO (2008), World Patent Report: A Statistical Review. World Intellectual Property Organization,
Geneva.
World Bank (2006), Benchmarking FDI Competitiveness in Sub-Saharan African Countries. World Bank, Washington, DC.
World Bank (2006), Enhancing Agricultural Innovation: How to Go Beyond the Strengthening of Research Systems. World Bank, Washington, DC.
World Bank (2008), Doing Business 2009. The World Bank, Washington, DC.
World Bank (2008), Global Economic Prospects 2008: Technology Diffusion in the Developing World. World Bank, Washington DC.
World Bank (2009), Accelerating Catch-Up: Tertiary Education for Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Bank, Washington DC.
World Economic Forum (2008), The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009. World Economic Forum, Geneva.
WIPO (2007), WIPO Patent Report: Statistics on Worldwide Patent Activities. World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
OECD (1997), National Innovation Systems, p.9. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris.
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COUNTRY STI PROFILES
Science, Technology and Innovation System Profile
Country
Angola
Key indicator Measurement/Rating
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as percentage of GDP
20,55%
652 359 US Dollars – donations and external investment in 2008
Total expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP
Currently surveying S&T indicators of 2006 Firm level technology absorption 3.3/7; ranked (80)125 out 128 countries by
GCR 2006-2007
Private sector spending on R&D Currently surveying S&T indicators of 2006 High technology exports as a percentage of
manufactured exports
N/A UNDP 2001 Technology Achievement Index (TAI)
Country ranked below 72. It is even below the technologically marginalized, slow adopters of technology according to UNDP 2001 Human Development Report
Number of institutions providing technical training
28 public institutions & 12 private institutions Number of Researchers in R&D Currently surveying S&T indicators of 2006 Researchers in R&D per million population 8 (SARUA 2008)
Currently surveying S&T indicators of 2006 Science and engineering enrolment ratio (%
of tertiary level students)
N/A Number of SET graduates per million
population
Currently surveying S&T indicators of 2006 Scientific and technical journal articles
published
Currently surveying S&T indicators of 2006 Scientific and technical journal articles per
million population
Currently surveying S&T indicators of 2006 % Imported technologies used in domestic
market
N/A Royalty and license fee payments N/A Patent applications granted by the USPTO per million population
N/A
Strategies and Policies Documentation and details Key documentation (provide actual
documents, links or URLs if possible)
UNCTAD (2008), Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP) Review of Angola; Existence of a national ministry or
department of science and technology
Yes. Ministry of Science and Technology of Angola
Explicit science and technology (R&D) policy Angolan Government Strategy to 2025 Explicit innovation policy and strategy Angolan Government Strategy to 2025 Science, Technology and Innovation focus
areas
Agriculture, Health, Geosciences, Petroleum, Energy, Fishery, Telecommunications, ICTs
51 In country capacity -
STI agencies, networks and partnerships
Details
National science councils /research centres National Higher Council on S&T; National Scientific Research Centre; National Centre of Technology
Private sector R&D institutes Catholic University; Sonangol Laboratory; Esso Centre of training;
Public sector R&D institutes National Institute on Public Health
Agostinho Neto University (CNRF; LESRA; CEDUMED; CEIP); IGCA; IIA; IIV; IGeo; INIP; INIDE; INCAFÉ; IDF; CTN; CNIC; HERBARIUM of Luanda; Museum of Natural History; Museum of Anthropology; Museum of Army; IANORQ; Laboratory of Engineering of Angola; Laboratory of Commerce ; INAMET; Centre of Trypanosomyasis; ICEM;
Angola Medical Research Institute
Angola Directorate of Geological and Mining Services
University-industry collaborations Very low according to GCR 2006-2007 Existence of courses in science policy,
research management, technology transfer
None Existence of courses in entrepreneurship and
management
Existence of infrastructure for technology transfer and incubation
Very poor infrastructure; UNDEP project on technology incubators
Number of institutions offering metrology, standards, testing and quality assurance related services
(1) IANORQ (Instituto Angolano Di Normailizacaoe Qualidade); (1) Laboratory of Commerce; (1) Laboratory of Agriculture; (1) INSP – public health
Agencies and organisations conducting research in SET
Few; main agency is the University Agostinho Neto
Support services and training provided by technology incubators
UNDEP project on technology incubators Number of technology transfer offices (both
private and public)
None Number of professional associations in SET (
journal societies, research networks, expert networks etc)
Ordem dos Médicos; Ordem dos Engenheiros; Ordem dos Advogados; Associação dos Sociólogos;
Local and international STI associations None Regional STI initiatives Details
Regional initiative Coordination of Regional Project on Maize and Cassava
Coordination of Regional Project on Energy Okavango Project
Continental initiative (Africa wide) None International STI initiatives Details International STI research partnerships and
networks
ACP-CE; Program on S&T in CPLP (Countries Portuguese Speakers); INFRASAT (Angola – Russia); SAT-3 (telecommunications)
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Financial support for STI Details
Availability of venture capital FUNDECIT (Fund for C&T) in creation Agencies for funding R&D No dedicated agency
Agencies for funding innovation None Agencies funding cooperation and extent of
investment
None Bilateral or multilateral funding agreements
with donors
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Science, Technology and Innovation System Profile
Country
Botswana
Key indicator Measurement/Rating
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as percentage of GDP
11.3% (UNCTAD World Investment Report 2008)
Total expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP
0.4% (2005)
Firm level technology absorption 4.2/7 country ranked 95/128 by the Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007
High technology exports as a percentage of manufactured exports
UNDP 2001 Technology Achievement Index (TAI)
Botswana is not listed in first 72 countries. Botswana in the group of ‘others’ possibly not considered a dynamic adopter of technology Number of institutions providing technical
training
Botswana Technology Centre, and University of Botswana
Number of Researchers in R&D
Researchers in R&D per million population 139 (SARUA 2008) Science and engineering enrolment ratio
(% of tertiary level students)
1.6% (2005) Number of SET graduates per million
population
Scientific and technical journal articles published
880 between 1995 and 2004 (SARUA 2008) Scientific and technical journal articles per
million population
% Imported technologies used in domestic market
Royalty and license fee payments
Patent applications granted by the USPTO per million population
1 patent for 1998 (UNDP 2001 HDR) Strategies and Policies Documentation and details
Key documentation (provide actual documents, links or URLs if possible)
Botswana National Research, Science and Technology Plan 2005; Botswana Human Development Report 2005;
Existence of a national ministry or department of science and technology
Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology; Department of Research, Science and Technology, and the National Commission for Science and Technology
Explicit science and technology (R&D) policy
Yes. Botswana National S&T Policy of 1998, Botswana Research, Science and Technology Plan 2005
Explicit innovation policy and strategy None. Innovation policy measures written in the Botswana Research, Science and Technology Plan
54 Science, Technology and Innovation focus areas
In country capacity –STI agencies, networks and partnerships
Details
National science councils /research centres Private sector R&D institutes
Public sector R&D institutes
University-industry collaborations Not many and of low quality Existence of courses in science policy,
research management, technology transfer No Existence of courses in entrepreneurship