Governments called to invest more seriously in research

Academics attending the inaugural Africa Conference for Research, Innovation and Development, or ACRID 2017, held from 20-21 June and organised by the University of Zimbabwe in conjunction with the European Alliance for Innovation, urged African countries to invest more in research and innovation to help in the continent’s development.

Most governments in Africa have failed to honour the agreement made at the African Union heads of state summit in 2006 to channel at least 1% of their gross domestic product towards research and development, with South Africa the only country even close to the target, the conference heard.

The Belgium-based European Alliance for Innovation is an international professional association and a non-profit organisation which aims to promote research and help innovation reach the market through community collaboration.

Ideas-sharing

University of Zimbabwe Vice-Chancellor Professor Levi Nyagura said the idea of organising the conference under the theme of "Moving Africa Forward through Engineering, Technology and Innovation" was to bring together academics and researchers to find solutions to the continent’s problems. He said the platform was not a talk show, but an opportunity to share ideas going forward.

“This is a convenient vehicle through which the best brains can showcase their research ideas and drive innovation for the benefit of Zimbabwe and beyond by bringing together academics from all tertiary institutions in Zimbabwe and across Africa,” he said.

The call for papers invited submissions from disciplines such as electronics, communications and computer systems, energy and power systems, multi-disciplinary approaches to innovation in industrial production, mining, transportation, engineering education and the participation of youth and women in engineering and technology.

Research cooperation

Professor Paul Mapfumo from the department of soil science and agricultural engineering at the University of Zimbabwe touched on the importance of local, regional and international research cooperation for Africa.

He said among the challenges faced by researchers in Africa are the issues of relevance or applicability of their work, lack of funding and the lack of an enabling environment because research is still a low political priority in Africa.

Another problem was the “lack of internal research funding” and “inconsistent agenda setting”, said Mapfumo.

He called for greater coordination of science, technology and innovation and said the fundamental importance of research cooperation should be recognised in Africa as it is around the world.

There was a need to develop a new manual for Africa’s development which would set a new context for research cooperation and its associated benefits, he said.

“A realignment of Africa’s research and development pathways is urgently required for science, engineering, technology and innovation to deliver meaningful industrial, entrepreneurial and societal benefits,” said Mapfumo.

Africa’s comparative advantages

Zimbabwe’s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, Professor Francis Gudyanga, who opened the conference, said Africa had comparative advantages that include minerals and materials, fresh water, sunshine, biodiversity, low human density and youthful populations.

“Even though Africa is indeed free from conventional colonialism, poverty, hunger, disease and civil wars are still commonplace. Despite its enormous resources of nature, Sub-Saharan Africa in particular has not been able to adequately harness its endowments for its sustainable development. Sub-Saharan Africa’s failure to harness its natural resources is attributable to a lack of the required critical mass of human capital with appropriate knowledge and skills, technology, infrastructure for innovation and entrepreneurship and incentives to innovate,” said Gudyanga.

Corruption as obstacle to development

Engineer Martin Manuhwa, the vice-president of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations and chair of the Committee on Anti-Corruption, presented a paper together with Neill Stansbury of the Global Infrastructure Anti-Corruption Centre in which they identified corruption as one of the greatest obstacles to development in Africa.

They said project funds were being diverted to corrupt officials, funders, contractors, consultants, suppliers and agents with the result that there were fewer good roads, schools and hospitals; more deaths due to lack of food and adequate health care; and dangerous infrastructure.

Zimbabwean scientist Professor Christopher Chetsanga said Africa needs to move with speed in embracing the knowledge society and harnessing science and technology in its industrialisation agenda.