[Cairo, September 08, 2021]: African governments, regional economic communities, and development agencies have been urged to strengthen and harmonise innovation and emerging technology policies and regulations to create an enabling environment for Africa's innovation and emerging technology development.  It was revealed that there is a need to bridge the disconnect between policymaking and evidence-based research to obtain better innovation outputs.  Hence a further call was made to increase science diplomacy to bridge social development priorities and policymaking in addressing Africa's grand challenges.

These calls to action were made by experts during a national Consultative Meeting on Enhancing the Domestication of the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA 2024) in Egypt, organised by the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) from 7-9th  September 2021.  The Consultative meeting was organised under the auspices of the Calestous Juma Executive Dialogues of the African Union High Level Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET).

The high-level consultative meeting, graced by policy and decision-makers and STI experts across Egypt, recommended that African governments create an enabling policy environment to harness the benefits accruing from innovation and emerging technologies to transform the livelihoods of Africans.

Hon. Prof. Yaser Refaat, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, noted that drafting legislation ecosystems that promotes research in the public domain and encourages collaboration with the private sector is an efficient way to lessen the friction between research entities across the country. He further encouraged the raising of patent-filing awareness to help in generating the economic value of research.

"Investment in R&D will ultimately reflect economic growth, and facilitating Academic-Industry collaborations will help commercialise research outputs. Inter-continental collaboration is as important as international ones to improve the quality of life for our children in Africa," said Hon. Prof. Yaser Refaat.

Prof Shireen Assem, Vice President of the Agricultural Research Centre and a member of APET, noted that technology is providing solutions to some of society's grand challenges, disrupting the current status and creating a future of unknowns. It is "accelerating the growing economic inequalities between and within nations, opening doors to new markets, new technologies, and new sources of competition, which spur the creativity and productivity and forming the basis of strategies for economic competitiveness. Africa seeks to export knowledge in the form of technology and innovation and create an atmosphere suitable for growth to elevate society", she noted.

For African Member States to fully realise the benefit of innovation and emerging technology, Mr Martin Bwalya, the acting Director of the Knowledge Management, Programme Evaluation and Centres of Excellence Directorate, said, "Africa should make a higher commitment towards championing science and technology to advance, boost, and grow Africa's science and technology capacity in alignment with African Union's (AU) Agenda 2063". He further reiterated that African countries' national strategic plans should develop and upscale technology and innovation in Africa to impact business and influence socio-economic growth positively.

On his part, Prof Islam Abou El-Magd, Professor of Remote Sensing and Environment and senior advisor to the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research noted that Egypt's Agenda 2030 resonates with AU's agenda 2063 and Science, Technology, and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA-2024) to advance local innovation suitable for enhanced sustainable socio-economic growth and competitiveness of Egypt

"Egypt responded to emerging technologies such as AI by augmenting the investment and budget towards research and development. Consequently, this paved the road for enabling legislation that can enhance innovation and the development of emerging technologies. This influenced socio-economic sectors such as water management, energy production, and health development across the country. Furthermore, Egypt has improved the country's training capacity in STI-related activities," said Prof Islam Abou El-Magd.

Dr Justina Dugbazah, the acting coordinator of APET-CJED, pointed out that the African Union High Level Panel on Emerging Technologies and Calestous Juma Executive Dialogue (APET-CJED) programme is demand-driven, as informed by regional consultations from African Member States.

"The purpose of the CJED is to serve as a platform for convening and strengthening knowledge and capacity of African executives, senior officials, decision and policymakers to enable them to provide technical advice to governments concerning emerging technologies appropriate for their respective countries. We need to fully integrate innovation and emerging technology into Africa's socio-economic development agenda in order to ensure that the ideals of "the Africa We Want" are attained across the continent," she added. She further added that there is a need to increase APET-CJED national platforms in all regions of Africa as well as obtain a further understanding of the landscape of STI in Egypt. Thus, AUDA-NEPAD/APET seeks to create an in-country CJED team in Egypt. This can enhance cooperation and strengthen partnerships between Egypt and other African countries.

The 3-day meeting includes experience sharing by experts from the host country Egypt, as well as from CJED country teams in Malawi, Gabon and Ghana. It is hoped that at the end of the meeting, participants would have:

• A greater understanding of the role of AUDA-NEPAD, AU High-Level Panel on Emerging Technologies and Calestous Juma Executive Dialogues
• Enhanced understanding of the science, technology and innovation landscape in Egypt
• Identified opportunities for coordinated policy responses, capacity building and implementation of science, technology and innovation
• Explored opportunities for establishing a CJED country team in Egypt
• A common understanding of the next steps in contributing to the effort of government and stakeholders in implementation and harnessing of science, technology and innovation in Egypt

In conclusion, the experts stated that there is a need for African countries to consider innovation and emerging technology as a tool towards addressing continental challenges. Participants urged that AUDA-NEPAD and APET increase efforts in making Africa's science, technology, and innovation more visible by using success stories on STI implementation in countries like Egypt.

About the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) ‎

The African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) is a strategic framework for pan-African socio-economic development. AUDA-NEPAD is spearheaded by African leaders to address the continent's critical challenges, including poverty, development, and Africa's international marginalisation.  AUDA-NEPAD provides unique opportunities for African countries to take full control of their development agendas, work more closely together, and cooperate more effectively with international partners.

AUDA-NEPAD was hitherto the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) established in February 2010 as an outcome of the integration of NEPAD into the AU's structures and processes. The AUDA-NEPAD manages a number of programmes and projects in four investment portfolios, namely Natural Resources Governance, Youth and Skills Development, Regional Integration, Infrastructure and Trade, and Industrialization, Science, Technology and Innovation.

About AUDA-NEPAD Calestous Juma Executive Dialogues

The Calestous Juma Executive Dialogue on Innovation and Emerging Technologies (CJED) was established by the African Union High Level Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET) and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) in honour of the late Prof. Calestous Juma, who was the co-chair of the African Union High Level Panel on Emerging Technologies. Prof. Juma was also a pioneer of science and technology in Africa.

Prof Juma worked extensively with the African Union in developing strategic documents such as the Science, Technology, and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA 2024) to foster robust strategic approaches towards harnessing emerging technologies for Africa. Thus, the CJED programme was designed as a platform by APET to lay a solid foundation for senior policy and decision-makers with strategic and leadership responsibilities.

The CJED programme aims to provide a platform for learning and exchange of knowledge and experience sharing within the diversity of national contexts and building mutually beneficial relationships with an emphasis on emerging technologies in the 21st century. Furthermore, the executive dialogue is relevant in addressing the challenges and opportunities that African countries face on this continent by providing participants with a deep understanding of the complexities of harnessing emerging technologies in Africa within a global context.

Contact for AUDA-NEPAD

Justina Dugbazah, Senior Programme Officer and Ag. Coordinator of APET-CJED on behalf of AUDA-NEPAD; Justinad@nepad.org;

Barbara Glover, Programme Officer, APET; barbarag@nepad.org