{"id":67858,"date":"2016-04-12T22:47:37","date_gmt":"2016-04-12T20:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/how-africa-can-close-its-continent-wide-science-funding-gap-the-conversation\/"},"modified":"2016-04-12T22:47:37","modified_gmt":"2016-04-12T20:47:37","slug":"how-africa-can-close-its-continent-wide-science-funding-gap-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/how-africa-can-close-its-continent-wide-science-funding-gap-the-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"How Africa can close its continent-wide science funding gap | The Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"
Investment in science and innovation is needed to help build Africa.<\/span> Kate Holt\/Africa Practice\/Flickr<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The idea that Africa\u2019s development depends critically on science, technology and innovation is embodied in the African Union\u2019s Agenda 2063. This document emphasises economies that are led by innovation and driven by knowledge. But the continent has some serious work to do if it\u2019s to create such economies.<\/p>\n

It starts at a disadvantage: Africa is home to 15% of the world\u2019s population and 5% of the world\u2019s gross domestic product (GDP) but accounts for just 1.3% of the globe\u2019s investment in research and development (R&D). It also holds only 0.1% of the world\u2019s patents, which leads us to question how effectively the existing research and development investment is being used.<\/p>\n

The good news is that there are grounds for optimism. And those grounds will only grow if African governments \u2013 as well as the continent\u2019s private sector \u2013 ramp up their scientific investment in the coming years.<\/p>\n

Coherent strategies<\/h2>\n

There are increasing signs of coherence in developing scientific strategies across the continent. The first comprehensive attempt involved the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa\u2019s Development (NEPAD) coming together in 2003 to initiate a series of consultations. These resulted in Africa\u2019s Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action (2005\u20132014).<\/p>\n

The plan was criticised on a number of grounds, especially for not being adequately linked with other pan-African initiatives, but it recorded some real successes. Between 2007 and 2013 total investment in African R&D grew by about 54%, albeit from a low starting point. At the same time the continent\u2019s output of scientific publications rose by 60%, compared with growth in Europe over the same period of just 14%.<\/p>\n

Its successor, the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa, was launched by the African Union in 2014. It is a ten-year strategic plan and has been widely bought into by national governments.<\/p>\n

Another cause for optimism is a whole set of new initiatives to support the development of a research culture in Africa. For instance, the World Bank has partnered with national governments to create centres of excellence across the continent in many disciplines. The bank is also involved in an initiative to train 10,000 new PhDs in applied science, engineering and technology.<\/p>\n

In 2015 the African Academy of Sciences and NEPAD, together with a group of international partners, launched the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa. This is a new platform to develop and fund major initiatives in science across the continent. The alliance\u2019s establishment has been welcomed by the African Union\u2019s heads of state.<\/p>\n

These new developments are exciting. But it is also important to be realistic about what more is required. African science needs billions \u2013 not millions \u2013 of dollars in investment. If the continent wants to achieve even the world average for the number of researchers per head of population, it will need to rapidly train one million new PhDs.<\/p>\n

There will need to be investment in infrastructure and career development, both at universities and other research organisations. To achieve this the continent will need to invest another US$ 2 billion in R&D each year.<\/p>\n

Where will the money come from?<\/h2>\n

For the most part, it will be up to countries themselves to invest this money, rather than international partners \u2013 though such partners\u2019 contributions will remain essential for targeted and catalytic effects.<\/p>\n

Some countries are beginning to take up the baton. Between 2009 and 2013 Ethiopia increased its investment in R&D by more than 150%. In 2013 Kenya incorporated a commitment to spend 2% of its GDP on R&D in a new Science, Technology and Innovation Act. The heads of state of Mauritius, Rwanda and Senegal have all made strong commitments to a future that\u2019s led by science.<\/p>\n

Governments are not, of course, the only potential source of funding.<\/p>\n

In the most successful science-led economies globally a substantial proportion \u2013 sometimes the majority \u2013 of funding comes from the private sector. In South Africa and Namibia up to 30% of investment in R&D comes from business. Elsewhere in Africa there is practically no such investment.<\/p>\n

The other important source of funding globally but untapped in Africa is philanthropy. At the beginning of 2016 there were 24 African billionaires, with assets totalling more than $ 100 billion. This raises the question of whether there will ever be an African equivalent of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which focuses on funding scientific research and innovation.<\/p>\n

The money is there<\/h2>\n

Whatever the potential spread of funding, there is no doubt that the prime driver has to be African governments investing in their own future.<\/p>\n

In 2007 African leaders committed to invest 1% of GDP in R&D. Starting from a low base, actual investment had reached 0.45% in 2013. Africa\u2019s estimated GDP is $ 2.4 trillion. Simply achieving the 1% already committed to would release an additional $ 12 billion a year for science. By 2050, on current estimates, this would rise to $ 300 billion dollars a year compared with today\u2019s approximately $ 20 billion.<\/p>\n

The money is there. The challenge is to make sure that it is invested in science innovation and technology for Africa\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

Kevin Marsh receives funding from The Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council UK in the form of research grants. He is affiliated with The African Academy of Sciences and the University of Oxford<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Investment in science and innovation is needed to help build Africa. Kate Holt\/Africa Practice\/Flickr The idea that Africa\u2019s development depends critically on science, technology and innovation is embodied in the African Union\u2019s Agenda 2063. This document emphasises economies that are led by innovation and driven by knowledge. But the continent has some serious work to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[428,4539,13212,8890,1001,2011],"class_list":{"0":"post-67858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-africa","8":"tag-close","9":"tag-continentwide","10":"tag-conversation","11":"tag-funding","12":"tag-science","13":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67858\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}