Research infrastructure in future plans of African Union. Mahama Ouedraogo Head of Division S&T

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1 Research infrastructure in future plans of African Union Case of the Science Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024 Mahama Ouedraogo Head of Division S&T African Union Commission Department of HRST Science and Technology Division

2 Content Introduction African STI strategy 2024 Linking the strategy to African development frameworks African requirement in RI

3 Introduction My task is to articulate the role of RI and perhaps the requirement in RI for the implementation of the major African plans with the CPA at the forefront. We will also consider the majors African plans and thematic frameworks which are related to the STI strategy.

4 The AU strategic plan African future: Education in S&T with emphasis on youth and women Professional and technical competence building Innovation- Job creation Priority area: Policies and Programmes to enhance access to basic health, education and employable skills underpinned by investment in science, research and innovation Output: to promote Strategic investments and policies in science, research and innovation to improve Africa s Global Competitiveness

5 Interventions in STI. 1. Strengthen and Consolidate Training and Research in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) 2. Enhance teacher development in STEM 3. Promote Actions to Advance Science Technology and Innovation in Africa 4. Support the Implementation of the Consolidated Plan of Action for Science &Technology 5. Support Implementation of the AUC Frameworks for Biodiversity, Bio-safety and Bioethics 7. Establish and implement African Space and Technology Policy, programmes and strategic pan-african institutions and networks

6 CPA Review Process Expected outputs include: A report on the progress made in the CPA implementation Amended CPA endorsed by AMCOST based on lesson lea rnt and recommendations of the high level panel. AU SUMMIT AMCOST V bureau Panel co-chaired by Egyptian member & eminent scientists from the Diaspora High Level Panel on CPA 1 member from AMCOST Bureau countries and Eminent African scientists from Diaspora Two scientists from international science community AMCOST Steering Committee Working Group on CPA AUC, NEPAD NPCA AfDB AUC/UNECA/AfDB Joint Secrétariat UNECA, UNESCO African Academy of Sciences ICSU ROA, RECs

7 The strategic directions ( ) Stimulation of Entrepreneurship Enhance technical competence Build infrastructure base for innovation led development 7

8 Build Infrastructure, base for innovation led development Seeks to build engineering capacity, enhance domestic materials and provide opportunities for learning Ensure that Africa develops the skills needed to design, execute and maintain projects as well as stimulate the production of construction materials and services enable the continent to realize the full value of such investment in creating jobs, and stimulating entrepreneurship and industrial growth

9 Enhance Technical Competence supports the growth of the technical competence needed to achieve and sustain economic development strategy Focuses on developing the human resource through advanced education and lifelong learning opportunities creation of more research intensive tertiary education platforms Increasing the stock of African R&D facilities Focus on human capacity development will be at both higher education and lower level with the aim of creating scientific human capacity and a science culture amongst young professionals The targets of these efforts are: to increase the number of Africans trained in STI, increase the research output at national and regional level and promote the expansion of research-intensive universities and research centres on the continent.

10 Stimulate Entrepreneurship Facilitate the application of S&T to develop new products and process for solving problems and bottlenecks Build entrepreneurial capacity to stimulate the movement of innovative ideas to the market focus on building African countries innovation-based competitiveness (collectively and individually) on the global market while ensuring that its citizenry have access to essential needs for an active and productive life.

11 CPA Strategic directions Initiatives Build Infrastructure base for innovation leddevelopment Leverage infrastructure projects to build engineering capacity Introduce measures to increase national and regional content of labour and materials Engineer the tools for scientific discovery Strengthen linkages with global and continental scientific and engineering communities Embrace green approaches in infrastructure design and development Enhance technical competence Embed STI and green principles into all AU Sectoral frameworks Establish/upgrade researchintensive universities, research centres and vocational institutions Expand science and engineering programmes Establish competitive grant schemes for emerging and experienced researchers Establish/boost R&D networks and foster internetwork collaboration Establish STI chairs Launch human resource support and development programmes Establish digital libraries Support Africa Space science Stimulate Entrepreneurship Establish technology transfer and commercialization programs at research institutions & universities Establish business development services (IP) Facilitate Public-Private collaboration and Industry- Institution partnerships Encourage the establishment & expansion of Venture funds

12 Relating the CPA to the AU Development Frameworks Issue: STI has had limited programmatic synergy with key sectoral frameworks. CPA was developed concurrently with the other frameworks through parallel processes Need to demonstrate synergies and complementarities CAADP, African mining vision, The African space policy and strategy, Africa health strategy-pharmaceutical Manufacturing plan for Africa (PMPA) Program for Infrastructural Development for Africa (PIDA) Second decade of education E-school initiative- Pan African University African youth charter Environment action plan

13 The Need for Research Infrastructure Research infrastructure drives and promotes international science collaboration and helps build stable and lasting international relationships. It creates concrete social and economic benefits and can even precipitate investment in traditional infrastructure. Challenges of RI in Africa: RI often lacking in the continent, usually not been integrated well with others on the continent, often as a result of different development routes and lack of communication. The lack of research infrastructure in the continent has global implication in science cooperation. Undermine Africa's future growth and its role in global science

14 Desired characteristics of the Research Infrastructure Provide clear pan-african or regional added value, linked with facilities which deliver top-level services attracting a widely diversified and international community of scientific users. Continuous improvement of the underlying facilities and e-infrastructure and supporting knowledge infrastructure, facilitating data acquisition, transfer and analysis, as well as data conservation and administration, to make both data and infrastructure easily accessible to scientists. Be within institution that has policy on commercialization of research results Linkage with industry and innovation platforms Mobility of scientists, and students Mobility of research infrastructure Be apt to address Grand Challenges from an African perspective and which address among others also the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Provide some of the essential tools for the structuring and growth, as well as for the attractiveness, of the African Research Area.

15 Areas of Need for Research Infrastructure Social Sciences and Humanities Environmental Sciences Energy, water and desertification Biological and Medical Sciences Materials and Analytical Facilities, Manufacturing, Laser Technologies Physical Sciences and Engineering Nuclear physics e-infrastructures Space science and technology Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Nucleotide sequence databases Astronomy- SKA Biotechnology and Indigenous Knowledge Post-Harvest

16 How do we Maximise the use of Research Infrastructure in Africa plan Cheickh Anta Diop : African research should be structured and regionalized. Reasons: high cost of research equipment which can in some situation exceed the budget of one country. High cost of maintenance It will avoid the neglect of fundamental research due to lack of funds necessary for high qualification of African scientists. The European model : The European Commission has been supporting access to effective research infrastructures for researchers all over Europe for more than a decade. This action has been instrumental in enhancing European researchers' access to the infrastructures they require to conduct their research, irrespective of the location of the facility.

17 Conclusion Investment in RI- contrasting investment in infrastructures vs RI Optimistic scenario- Would Africa rise to the challenge?

18 Thank you