Transformative Innovation Policy Africa Hub Exploratory

The Transformative Innovation Policy (TIP) Africa Exploratory Hub (TIP Africa Hub, henceforth, for short) was conducted over a 12-month period, from November 2018 to November 2019. The research, led by Dr Chux Daniels and coordinated by the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex; involved four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): Ghana, Kenya and Senegal, and South Africa. Alongside SPRU, the lead organisations from the four SSA countries are: the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI), Kenya; the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (CSIR-STEPRI), based at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ghana; Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (UCAD), Senegal; and the National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa. The country research teams where made up of researchers and policymakers. Funding for the research was provided by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The TIP Africa Hub research has provided useful lessons on the prospects for transformative innovation and possible pathways to the formulation, implementation, evaluation and governance of transformative innovation policies in Africa

The republic of science meets the republics of somewhere: embedding scientific excellence in sub-Saharan Africa

How can international and regional actors on the one hand, and national actors on the other hand, align and realign practice, funding and support to ensure embedded excellence in science and research in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)? What are the roles, challenges, and opportunities for science granting councils (SGCs) – science or research councils, or agencies responsible for the funding and/or management of science and research in SSA – in embedding scientific excellence in SSA? In this chapter, we examine the notion of embeddedness, or relevance, of scientific excellence to national development agenda. We discuss actions that SGCs can take to foster and support embedded excellence in science and research in SSA. We argue that the notion of excellence needs to extend beyond the traditional metrics, such as publications and citations, if science and research are to be relevant to national contexts. We maintain that in order to embed scientific excellence in SSA, adequate alignment and realignment of the various agenda (of international, regional and national actors), practice, funding and support for science and research in Africa will be necessary. To achieve this goal, SGCs in SSA will require greater ownership of their research agenda, autonomy, resource, vision and alliances. Grounding the ‘Republic of Science’ in the realities of national contexts will require this. Furthermore, a set of ‘capitals’, strengthened capabilities, and capacities will be needed to support the process of embedding excellence at the national level.Published by African Minds

Organisational capabilities for science, technology and innovation policy formulation in developing countries: the case of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Science and Technology

It is widely accepted that public policies have an important role in driving science, technology and innovation (STI) initiatives in order to achieve socio-economic and development objectives. Nevertheless, previous research reveals that developing countries still face difficulties in formulating policies to support and promote STI. A possible reason for this is found in the apparent lack of capabilities for policymaking. Capabilities are "a precondition for effective policy formulation in developing countries" (UNIDO, 2005, p.16). However, our knowledge and understanding of what these capabilities are, remain limited. In this thesis I examine the roles that capabilities play in formulating STI policies, the development of these capabilities and their evolution over the years. I group policy capabilities into organisational capabilities – which refers to policy processes and routines – and individual capabilities – which refers to the skills of individual policymakers (Nelson and Winter, 1982; Dosi et al., 2000; Feldman and Pentland, 2003). In order to address the identified gaps in literature, I use the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST) – which in 2012 completed the formulation of a new national STI policy – as an illustrative case for the investigation of these issues. To achieve the aim of the thesis, I address three research questions: (1) What roles do capabilities play in formulating STI policies at FMST and why? (2) How did policy formulation capabilities originally emerge at FMST and why? (3) How have policy formulation capabilities evolved (i.e. changed over the years, from 1986 to 2012) at FMST and why? To collect data, I interviewed key staff at FMST and stakeholder organisations (who participated in the STI policy formulation exercise), in addition to secondary data from relevant policy documents. The data analysis was based on the “explanation-building” technique (Yin, 2009). The findings reveal the various roles that policy capabilities (processes, routines and skills) play in policy formulation; how and why policy capabilities were developed and their evolution over the years at FMST. The results address the aforementioned gaps. The findings should be useful to policymakers, decision-makers and practitioners involved in STI policymaking, research and capability management

Digital skills in Africa

The European Union’s (EU) Comprehensive Strategy with Africa, adopted in 2020, prioritises digital skills in three of its five thematic areas. Besides the EU, other key stakeholders, including the World Bank and United Nations (UN), have also expressed interest in and initiated programmes to support digital skills in Africa. Despite these formal declarations, we argue in this chapter that the conditions do not yet exist for a meaningful cooperation between the EU and Africa in this area. This is due to (1) lack of conceptual clarity and agreed consensus on what is meant by digital skills; (2) the need to develop the ecosystem for digital skills training, including provision of digital devices, connectivity, and appropriate digital contents in education establishments; and (3) the need to teach digital skills along with other cognitive, social, and emotional skills in education and training programmes (formal and non-formal). Nonetheless, in light of the progressive penetration of digital technologies, the projected demand for digital skills could act as an enabler to drive EU–Africa collaboration in this area. This collaboration could be focused on developing policy frameworks for digital skills, investing in the digital skills ecosystem, and prioritising broad-based digital skills training to drive productivity improvements and job creation

Mapping research infrastructures to enhance the resilience of science systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

The overarching lesson from the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is that Africa is poorly equipped in Research Infrastructures (RIs), especially in Virtual RI (VRI) such as data and high-speed internet connectivity, reliable mobile networks and cloud computing facilities that allow for real-time collaboration environments in research, teaching, and learning. Adequate RIs (physical and virtual), which include human resources, modern and fully equipped classrooms are essential to success, especially in the current era of COVID-19 and digital transformations across the globe. This situation is expected to continue, going forward. However, VRIs need to be accompanied by Physical RIs (PRIs). A vital PRI in Africa is electricity, which still poses significant challenge to HEIs in Africa. On this backdrop, this project on Mapping RIs to Enhance the Resilience of Science Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), focuses on one overarching goal: to investigate the current RIs landscape, both physical and virtual, in Africa and make recommendations to guide the formulation, implementation and governance of new policies and practices, as well as the revision of existing policies and practices on RIs

STI policy and governance in Sub-Saharan Africa: fostering actors’ interactions in research and innovation

This study investigates science, technology, and innovation (STI) policy and governance in relation to research and innovation (R&I) ecosystems in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). To understand the implications of STI policy and governance on R&I, the authors focus on university, industry and government actors; using the Triple Helix and National Systems of Innovation approaches as analytical frameworks to guide the study. The authors identify a range of factors hindering R&I actors’ interactions, including gaps in STI governance responsibilities and accountabilities, policymaking and structural transitions, R&I management capacity and capability gaps. Based on the findings, they propose changes to policymaking and the governance of R&I in SSA, in addition to advancing innovative approaches such as ‘resource circulation’ in the context of knowledge, research and science infrastructure scarcity. The findings provide fresh insights into STI policy and governance frameworks, fostering actors’ interactions and supporting performance improvements in research, science and innovation systems across Africa

Digitalisation for transformation

This book engages with the relatively recent field of digitalisation and digital cooperation between Africa and Europe. The discussions point to the opportunities and challenges emerging from the aspiration of developing a digital partnership between the African Union (AU) and European Union (EU). Applying a multidisciplinary and multi-level perspective, the contributions shed light on the potential for digital transformation and the question of digital cooperation between the AU and EU. The analyses engage with digitalisation as an expression of power politics, examine digital tools and governance mechanisms, including debates on new policies and regulatory frameworks, and investigate the impact of the digital transformation on people’s daily lives. The rich insights presented in the book point to three key messages around the necessity for: (1) a deeper AU–EU cooperation in digitalisation, (2) further elaboration of the prospects for mutual benefits that could result from the strategic partnership between the two regions, and (3) exploiting new frontiers for AU–EU cooperation in digitalisation that can open further opportunities for increased competitiveness and development outcomes for both continents. However, for closer cooperation between Africa and Europe to become fruitful and add mutual value in a highly competitive field, both complementary goals and diverging objectives must be identified and addressed

The dynamics of global public research funding on climate change, energy, transport, and industrial decarbonisation

This paper explores the funding trends, topical themes, and notable gaps in global public research funding across the areas of energy, climate change, transport, and industrial decarbonisation from 1990 to 2020. The paper organizes its analysis along the themes of financial and spatial patterns of funding, patterns of disciplinary funding, and the temporality (and shifting research priorities) within funding patterns. It finds that funding for energy and climate research remains concentrated within the European Commission, United Kingdom and United States. Climate change adaptation research is the most funded general area, and the specific topics of energy efficiency, climate resilience, and climate information systems, managing climate risks, energy storage, carbon dioxide removal and solar energy are the most funded technologies. There is significant diversity in the disciplines funded, with the social sciences supported almost as much as the engineering and physical sciences and meaningful amounts of funding disbursed to the arts and humanities and the life sciences. A large majority of projects identify themselves as transdisciplinary. The paper, lastly, discusses research gaps and future research questions

Science for whom? Examining the data quality, themes, and trends in 30 years of public funding for global climate change and energy research

Public spending for research and development is undoubtedly one of the most powerful tools for government policy in the areas of climate change and energy systems and technology innovation. However, existing datasets are currently fragmented, incomplete, and partial in their coverage. This study presents results from a more comprehensive, granular, and descriptive attempt to compile a dataset of global funding patterns on energy and climate research. To do so, it identified 114,201 potential projects funded by 154 research councils across 17 countries and the European Commission from 1990 to 2020 (with projected funding up until 2026). A smaller sample of 1000 illustrative projects were examined in greater detail. It finds that there are difficulties with accessible and available public data, including an inaccuracy of data on published websites or inadequate tracking and updating of project details. Research on energy and climate change is supported by a surprisingly broad base of inquiry, including research from the social sciences and economics but also the arts and humanities, engineering and technology, life sciences and medicine, and natural and physical sciences. Climate change adaptation research is the most funded general area, followed by climate mitigation via energy systems, transportation and mobility, geo/climate engineering, and industrial decarbonization. Funding has been allocated unevenly in favor of some specific technologies, e.g. resilience and adaption, energy efficiency, and electric vehicles. Publicly funded research benefits a very particular set of disciplines, e.g. communication studies, economics, computer science, and chemical engineering. Moreover, the funded projects reveal a striking diversity of methods, including literature reviews, surveys and original data collection, the development of intellectual property, case studies, qualitative research and energy modeling

Updating the case studies of the political economy of science granting councils in sub-saharan Africa : national case study report of Tanzania

The Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) was established as a successor to the Tanzania National Scientific Research Council (NSRC) and is the main regulatory body for all science, technology and innovation (STI) related activities in Tanzania. Although impacts in innovation have been made and recognized in the past 5 years, coordination of COSTECH with other government bodies is often frustrated by insufficient resources. R&D funding is primarily dependent on government and foreign donor organisations, along with implicit agendas. Preparation of a new STI policy is in progress for 2018/2019