Transcript revisting_putting_africa_first

Plenary on Revisiting Putting Africa
First: the Making African Innovation
Systems
By Mammo Muchie
8th Globelics Conference
November 1-3,2010
Kuala Lumpur, 2010
Outline
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Inspiration
Ten Years After the 2001 Conference
Why We Say Putting Africa First
Establish and Sustain Research That
Contributes to Building a Greater African
Research Area (GARA)
Practical Issues That May Need The
Panel’s Input
Concluding Remark
Inspiration
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’...We have shifted from science to research. Science is
certainity; Research is uncertainity. Science is
supposed to be cold, straight and detached; research is
warm, involving and risky. Science puts an end to the
vagaries of human disputes; Research fuels
controversies by more controversies.’ …Bruno Latour
We need to build research capacity systematically in
Africa.. Africa actually fits well with Bruno Latour’s
idea of research-warm, involving and risky!
1. Ten Years After: the positive in
Africa!
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Putting Africa First book came out..
Authors like Abdelkadir and Banji have produced books
We produced in 2006 Bridging the Digital Divide
Two Globelics conferences (2005) South Africa, 2009
(Senegal)- the latter thanks to UNU-MERIT’s twinning effort
under Luc’s African supportive leadership!
AJSTID: www.ajstid.com
Medalics: www.medalics.org
AGDA: http:// agda.unobi.ac.ke
PhD training and post-doc research through the NRF/DST
SARChI started in IERI, TUT, Pretoria, South Africa
Masters courses on innovation in Wits and in Algeries
Ten Years After: still waiting to be done
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No major research programme on African STI4D to date
Until now no research network linking African researchers with
something like Africalics like Asialics exists!
Decision was made after the meeting after 2001 conference to
form Africalics: Banji, Osita, Sam Wangwe, Jose
Cassialato,Abdelkadir & Mammo participated, in 2001!)
No research innovation community that can work with
consensus, fair dealing and with intelligent division of labour
emerged, much as this was needed in Africa perhaps more
than anywhere else in the world!
Research environment remains difficult for those who have no
other interest but build GARA!!
Why Putting Africa First?
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Putting Africa first is a ’metaphor’ for a message of hope and
possibility!
For putting what has been peripheral to be recognised by asserting it
requires putting Africa first to recognise Africa as central in the
innovation and development emerging field too.
It is also excellent for the field’s healthy intellectual progress
It is to redress what has been rejected, ignored and often undermined.
To recognise the peripheralby putting it first is in reality to make it a
central area of concern!
And that is a very good thing for a community that deals with
innovation and development
Innovate by using the meataphor of putting Africa first what has been
peripheralised to become part of the central concern of research policy
in order to focus energy comprehensively on how the fastest possible
development can be achieved.
Africa has been so peripheral, unless one puts it first, it will not be
central!
Key Problem:
Building NSI in
fragmented 53 ,
states caught in
prisoners dilemma
situation
today
Any chances for
Building NSI at
AU,NEPAD,RECs
levels?
NSI by Accepting the
Fragmentary current
logic
A
Africa caught in
an unstabl
state
of non-selfregenerating
NSI achievable
Locally embedded
triple helix
emerging rather
than the donor
driven one today
Neutralising
the fragmentation
Of the RECs
Unsettling
switching state
for embedding
NSI locally at
Africa level or
not
Africa First
emerging as the
logo and a united
approach to NSI
building favoured
Actual
Dynamic NSI building
State emerging
The unity Will
and Stability for
NSI at
integrated Africa
level reached &
achieved
Building GARA
RESEARCH PROGRAMME ON SYSTEM OF INNOVATION
BUILDING AT THE AFRICA LEVEL a challenge!
 REVIEW THE EXISTING WORK ON STI4D IN AFRICA BOTH DONE
BY THOSE FROM INSIDE AND THOSE FROM OUTSIDE AFRICA
 IDENTIFY THE RESEARCH CENTRES ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN
STI4D WORK IN ALL REGIONS OF AFRICA
 FIND WAYS OF HOW TO UNDERTAKE THE DEVELOPMENT OF
AN AFRICA WIDE RESEARCH SURVEY ON STI4D:
- REGION BY REGION , RECs, AU/NEPAD
COUNTRY BY COUNTRY,
SECTOR BY SECTOR,
FIRM BY FIRM,
COMMUNITY BY COMMUNITY LEVELS
TO GENERATE DATA FOR : a) POLICY LEARNING, b) SYSTEM
OF INNOVATION
BUILDING and c) FOR BRINGING ABOUT WAYS OF BETTER
INTEGRATION OF AFRICAN ECONOMIES
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Practical Steps
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I. The most urgent is to plan a follow up conference
to Ten Years After Putting Africa First Conference of
2001!
Holding it in Africa (where: Algeria, South Africa,
Kenya etc..)
Finding resources ( where!)
Planning the kind of output we seek that may involve
different stakeholders
II. Research programme on STI4D in Africa to do as
complete a survey as possible covering all regions of
Africa at various units of analyses!
Concluding Remark
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We need a team from both the North and the Non-African
South:
From the North: UNU-Merit, Alborg Univ, Georgia Tech and
others who can contribute and wish to join by teaming up with
those of us in Africa!
From the South:China, India, Brazil, Mexico and others
In Africa itself we need to be inclusive and involve as many of
African networks as possible!
I hope and trust the 8th Globelics conference will make good
decisions by truly putting Africa first by supporting both short
term concrete actions and helping to contribute by taking longterm view on how to sustain a greater African research and
high quality training area!
Thank you and welcome top the panelists to make brief remarks,