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December 2008, UNECA
The central role of knowledge and innovation in economic growth is widely acknowledged in developed countries. It is evident from these countries that the creation of a knowledge economy and knowledge based industries does not happen in isolation, but is highly correlated with: the general health of the economy; The capacity of companies to engage in new endeavours and self-awareness of such capacity; existence of the human capital within the companies and availability of additional supply; conducive operating environment, including legal and regulatory regime; and access to financial resources.
There is abundant evidence that Africa is the only region yet to fully exploit the great potential of science and technology as an engine of growth and development despite the fact that up to 50,000 African scientists with post-graduate qualifications work outside their mother country. This is attributable to lack of scientific capacity due to the limited number of trained scientist and researchers in the continent, a situation further compounded by the brain drain. Sub-Saharan Africa has only one scientist and engineer per 10,000 people whereas developed countries have one for every 250 people and the continent spends barely 1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on research and development and funding for higher education is quite low
Against this background, and given the budgetary constraints of the public sector, it is essential to explore innovative ways of increasing investment in science and technology in Africa. On such way is to explore the possibility of African private sector support for investments in research and development. This was identified as a key issue by the Science with Africa Conference (3-7 March 2008).
The study covers the following areas:
- Identification of companies supporting ICT R & D in Africa
- Evaluation of contributions made by such companies
- Highlight of trends and differences in different sectors
Recommendation of a vision, goals and activities that ECA will use to harness such resources in the context of an ICT R&D strategy for Africa
For a copy of the study, please contact:
Ms. Aida Opoku-Mensah
Director, ICTs, Science and Technology Division (ISTD)
UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
P. O. Box 3001, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Email: aopoku-mensah@uneca.org |
