| December
5, 2007
“We need no less than a scientific revolution in Africa,”
said Abdoulie Janneh, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive
Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to EU
parliamentarians last week in Brussels. The EU parliamentarians
as well as representatives from the Council, Commission officials,
industry representatives, stakeholders and policy makers had
gathered for a preliminary hearing on the “Science with
Africa” Conference to be hosted by ECA and other partners
in March 2008 in Addis Ababa. The Conference will add momentum
to a process started by African Heads of State and Government
when they dedicated their January 2007 Summit meeting to the
issue of Science, Technology and Scientific Research for Development.
The objective
of the hearing was to explore ways to help African scientific
organizations to gain better access to collaborative research
and development projects in industrialized countries. It also
provided background information for the future adoption by
EU parliamentarians of a resolution on scientific collaboration
with Africa.
The EU
Parliament hearing was chaired by Member of European Parliament
(MEP), Pilar del Castillo Vera who called for establishing
a practical mechanism that could bring African and European
scientists together.
Mr. Janneh
indicated that building Africa's scientific and technological
development framework depends on how we support a constructive
dialogue between the scientific community and policy makers.
“For Africa to accelerate its development and achieve
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), African countries
have to scale-up their investments in science and technology,”
added Mr. Janneh, who highlighted the numerous bottlenecks
to the benefits generated by science and technology innovations,
including low incomes and poor state finances as well as lack
of adequate infrastructure and institutional framework.
The ECA
“Science with Africa” Conference will bring together
African policy makers, scientific experts, science and research
project managers and their counterparts from industrialized
countries to discuss challenges and opportunities for an enhanced
collaboration.
In its
new strategic orientation, which includes helping to meet
Africa's special needs, ECA's work programme now includes
a major science and technology component, which is aimed at:
- Ensuring
that science is targeted at the economy and the productive
sectors
- Managing
capacity-building programmes for science institutions especially
in harnessing innovation
- Facilitating
collaborative partnerships in science and
- Advocating
the role of science and innovation in decision-making and
in development processes.
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ES
Welcome Address: Public Hearing on Science
with Africa
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Concept
Summary - Science with Africa Conference
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Topics
for Discussion
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