New science, technology strategy with UNESCO support

Bruno Jean Richard Itoua, minister of scientific research and technological innovation in the Republic of Congo, has set out key areas to promote scientific research in a strategy based on a partnership agreement with UNESCO.

They concern policies for science, technology and innovation, as well as completing the organisation of associations for innovators, designers, inventors and traditional healers; and development of laws and regulations concerning the legislative framework, regulation and establishment of a funding strategy for innovation, reported Agence d’Information d’Afrique Centrale, or ADIAC.

Itoua said that research must serve the country’s development and the needs of the people, and that 2015 would be marked by an inter-ministerial council focused on research and innovation, reported ADIAC.

The strategy for Congo’s science, technology and innovation policy will be based on the partnership agreement signed on 17 December 2014 by Itoua and Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

Under the three-year agreement Congo will provide UNESCO with US$400,000 for it to help strengthen the country’s capacities in scientific and technological innovation as a key to its economic, social, human and cultural development.

This will entail updating information on research and innovation, developing appropriate policy instruments and enhancing the standing of the sector, according to UNESCO.

Cooperation in the sciences between the Republic of Congo and UNESCO began in 2004 when Congo asked for the organisation’s support to develop a national science and technology policy, leading to adoption of an action plan for 2010-16.

The new agreement reinforces existing programmes by focusing on modernisation and industrialisation, according to UNESCO.

* This article is drawn from local media. University World News cannot vouch for the accuracy of the original reports.