SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN SOUTHERN AFRICA: Status, Achievements, Impediments, and Way forward (#)

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1 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN SOUTHERN AFRICA: Status, Achievements, Impediments, and Way forward (#) Pushpendra K Jain Professor of Physics, and Coordinator: AMSEN* - UB Node University of Botswana Gaborone, Botswana Ph: jainpk@mopipi.ub.bw (#) 6 th International Conference on the Frontiers of Plasma Physics and Technology, 4-8 March 2013, GICC, Gaborone, Botswana (*) African Materials Science and Engineering Network, A Carnegie IAS RISE Network.

2 1. Introduction: Africa 2. Status of Research in Africa: R&D Indicators Citation Global Competitive Ranking Expenditure on R&D: GERD Research Output 3. Barriers to Scientific Development Economic Landscape Infra- and Support Structures Educational Land Scape 4. Way Forward Collaboration Networking Carnegie-IAS RISE Networks Innovation & IP Driven Research 5. Conclusions

3 Introduction: Africa Area: 30.2 Million Km 2 (20% of land area of the Earth), 1 Billion Population. 54 Sovereign states + 11 Other Territories. Vast Lingual, Social, Cultural, Economic, Political diversity. Some of the common problems: Poverty, Malnutrition, Food, Energy and Water security, Disease control, Lack of Education and Health services, Internal and cross border conflicts, Crime, Under development. Beyond the means of an individual country to solve all its problems. Countries with some similarities are grouped to form regional Blocks to deal with common problems, for example: SADC, EAC, ECOWAS

4 STATUS OF RESEARCH IN AFRICA: R & D Indicators Citation Global Competitive Ranking Expenditure on R&D: GERD Research Output

5 Citation of African Research Form the research published: , ONLY 31 AFRICAN SCIENTISTS among 5000 most highly cited world scientists. 25 from South Africa. 9 From Pretoria University, (1 also at Yaoundé U., Cameroon). 6 from KwaZulu Natal University. 3 from Nelson Mandela Metropol U. 2 from U Cape Town. 1 each from 5 other. 3 from Kenya. 1 each from Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda. Their Research areas: Pharmacology, Plant and animal Science, Environment and ecology, Chemistry and Medicine. Research from SA is most noted globally, but not in Physical Sciences.

6 Global Competitive Ranking in some Research Indicators (out of 144 countries) Indicator Intellectual property (IP) protection Quality of overall infrastructure Availability of research and training services Extent of staff training Availability of latest technology Capacity of innovation Quality of research institutions Company spending on R & D University-industry collaboration in R & D Availability of Scientists and engineers PCT Patent, applications/ million pop BOTS RSA ZAM ZIM

7 Gross Domestic Expenditure on R & D (GERD as % of GDP) Country GDP - Billion US$ GERD (% of GDP) Botswana South Africa Tanzania USA UK Sweden India China Singapore South Korea 14,720 2, ,046 9, ,

8 GERD Contd USA GERD: 2.85 % of 14,720 Billion = US$ Billion. Total GDP of many African countries is not even close to this amount. Total amount of GERD of most developing countries insignificantly small can not be expected to make ground breaking contributions. At best they can barely keep their name in occasional international journals, and more often in mediocre to obscure regional/ local journals. Threshold investment needed for ground breaking research: An Estimate: {(GERD of USA in last ten years ) / (Number of Nobel Prizes in ten Years) = Cost of 1 Nobel prize in 10 years.} A fair estimate of investment in R&D to enable ground breaking research: (Could be controversial!!!). Can not hope to see a Nobel laureate from Africa soon

9 Research Output Rest Zambia Malawi Senegal Ghana Uganda Cameroon Ethiopia Tanzania Kenya Algeria Nigeria Egypt South Africa 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

10 BARRIERS TO SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA Economic Landscape Infra- and Support Structures Educational Landscape

11 Economic Landscape Traditionally raw materials and mineral based economies. No value addition to raw materials by manufacture/ processing, very little industrial and technological development. Pricing of raw materials/ minerals is determined by external market forces Generally a buyers market. Most African economies have remained feeble - struggling to deal with immediate social and economic problems: Abject poverty, malnutrition, disease control, provision of education and health services, and in recent years HIV and AIDS. Most affected with HIV/ AIDS are the young, productive age group of people in whom the country had invested its future. Sustainable rapid development possible only through Research Development and Innovation to drive industrialization. Need for transformation to knowledge based economies.

12 Infra- and Support Structures Lack of adequate infrastructure of research labs., library resources Lack of highly trained manpower to carry out research. Lack of resources for the maintenance, repair and upgrade of existing research facilities if any. Very low success rate in attracting external research grants or partnering with large research groups abroad. Contracts jobs for expatriate staff!!! Support structures such as Research Councils, Science Foundations non existent or non-functional. Lack of National Research, Development and Innovation policies and lack of proper implementation plan where such policies exist. Shortage of PhD supervisors at Universities Few that exist are overburdened with teaching and supervision. Low salaries, lack of retention of good researchers Brain drain of skilled manpower. New PhDs returning after completion abroad find themselves stranded without facilities and conducive Research Environment. There is even a shortage of potential research students.

13 Educational Landscape Primary/ Secondary schools lack well equipped science labs./ staff. Admission to tertiary institutions is based on performance in the secondary school. Not all qualify to enter tertiary education. After a common one or two year(s), top performers are offered to study professional degree programs, e.g. Medicine, IT, Eng.. etc. Only the weakest students are left to study science subjects. Having missed opportunity for better paying careers, science students are generally less committed/ motivated; many fail to perform well to pursue research and innovation career. Few good performers are recruited as SDFs at the University; others take up school teaching and Government jobs. Government jobs have no or minimal opportunity for research and innovation. Engineering graduates prefer employment that have ample opportunities for rapid progression compared to a Research & Development career.

14 WAY FORWARD Collaboration and Skill Sharing Networking Pooling of the Resources The Carnegie IAS RISE Networks Innovation and IP Driven Research

15 Collaboration and Skill Sharing Science - A global multidisciplinary endeavor. Research on the forefront of a discipline generally requires input from several sub areas and/or from other disciplines.

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17 Networking: Pooling of the Resources High Cost of Research - Beyond the means of a single lab. or sometimes even a single country (e.g. IETR, JET, LHC ) Networking is an essential tool for solving global problems. Sharing of resources and networking is an essential necessity for quality as well as quality of research. Increased number of citation received by publications coming out from network - groups. Access to network resources leads to improved staff retention, and increased number and quality of students. Royal Society Report (2011): Steady growth in global and regional networks over the past 2 decades. Articles published by network - groups increased to 35% of total from 25% 15 years ago.

18 Carnegie IAS RISE Networks AMSEN: African Materials Science and Engineering Network. RISE-AFNNET: African Natural Products Network. SABINA: Southern Afr. Biochemistry and Informatics for Natural Products. SSAWRN: Sub-Saharan Africa Water Resources Network. WIO-RISE: Western Indian Ocean Regional Initiative in Marine Sc. and Ed.

19 African Materials Science and Engineering Network USA. (AMSEN: A Carnegie IAS RISE Network) Network of 5 African Universities: (1) University of Botswana (Coordinator: Prof P K Jain) (2) Universities of Namibia, and (3) Nairobi, Kenya. (4) Wits University, RSA, and (5) FUTA, Nigeria. AIM: To develop manpower and build research capacity in materials science and engineering through: Training of students at Master and PhD degree levels Bursaries are provided and research costs are covered. Upgrading of research facilities by purchase of new equipment and repair and maintenance of existing facilities. Developing of supervisory capacity by co-supervision. Sharing of facilities and skills staff & student exchange visits. Hosting/ attending conferences/ training courses/ workshops.

20 AMSEN Contd. (1) UB Node Research Group: 2 MPhil + 2 PhD Students registered at UB. 2 students have submitted their dissertations. 2 External students co-supervisors by UB staff. 3 Internal UB Supervisors + 4 External co-supervisors. Part-time secretary/ office assistant. Areas of Research by UB Group: Phases in Ni-based ternary alloys (Ni-Ru-Zr; Ni-Ru-V and Ni-Ru-Y). Phase change materials for data storage Se-In-Bi thin films. Composite materials using organic materials. UB Node has hosted Five one-week long workshops attended by staff and students from all other nodes. Students from other nodes were trained on SEM-EDX analysis. UB staff has also attended workshops at other nodes. 2 AMSEN research Conferences organized.

21 AMSEN Contd. (2) UB Node Research Output ( : Type of contributions) Where published/ presented Journal Published Journal Under preparation Conferences (Abstracts Published) MSSA a Conferences AfMRS b Conferences M&M c Conferences, USA IASTED d Conferences, GBE 1 st AMSEN Workshop 2 nd AMSEN Workshop Unpublished contributions: Posters Oral presentations (Conferences) Local Seminars Numbers

22 AMSEN Contd. (3) UB Node Research Output ( : Subject Area) Subject Area Ternary Alloys Thin Film Other Materials AMSEN General Other General Seminars Numbers

23 Innovation and IP Driven Research IP Generation, Patenting and Commercialization - A long drawn costly process, estimated to cost: US$ 2 M for each Technology disclosure. US$ 5 M for each patent granted. US$ 8.2 M for each successful commercialization. Beyond economic means of most African countries. Universities put emphasis on publications; lack resources to support staff on IP patenting & commercialization. Other Opportunities exist in Science-Entrepreneurship: Manufacture, assembly, innovation, adaptation, repair, and maintenance of science equipment. Private laboratories to provide testing, calibration, standardization services. Repair, maintenance of household / office equipment. Processing, packaging, marketing of local products for global consumers.

24 CONCLUSIONS Africa lags far behind the developed countries in Research, Development and Innovation. Their economies are too weak to create and sustain adequate research infrastructure and to train adequate research manpower. They are unable to attract external research funding and produce notable research outputs. Only option is to: Forge sustainable global/ regional collaborations. Regional/ Global Networking to share skills and resources.

25 On Collaboration and Networking- A quote In the world of research, collaboration has become a prerequisite for excellence. It is vital to share knowledge and technology, pool resources, develop specializations and link disciplines if we wish to raise innovation to a high enough level to meet the challenges of the centuries to come. Indeed, this will require far more than the resources of a single laboratory or even an entire country Pooling their skills means that these talents are not just accumulated, they are multiplied. And this changes the score entirely. -Scientific Collaboration: Symphony of Excellence, ResearchEU, No: 61, July 2010, pp 6-7.

26 Millennium Etched in a Rock: A Geological Calendar First Prize: Micrograph Competition MSSA2005, 44th Annual Conference of the MSSA, December 2005, and Image of Distinction Award: Nikon s Small World 2009