According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Economic Development Report for Africa (2021), thirty-four percent (34%) of African
households are poor, living in some of the world’s most unequal societies with a regional
Gini index of 0.40. According to the report, several African Union Member States have yet to
develop efficient ways to support long-term growth and raise living conditions for the
majority of citizens who remain impoverished. The present rise of the 4 th Industrial
Revolution (4IR) holds immense potential for improving Africa’s sustainable development
trajectory by creating more employment opportunities and promoting a level of
entrepreneurship that reduce poverty.
According to the Brookings Institute’s Foresight Africa report of 2020, mobile technologies and services have created 1.7 million direct jobs, both formal and informal, contributing
$144 billion in economic value or 8.5 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s Gross domestic
product (GDP), and $15.6 billion in tax revenue to the government. From the above, it is
important to highlight the report findings that digitisation has solved information
asymmetry issues in both the financial system and labor market. As consequence, this has
resulted in an increased efficiency, certainty, and security in an environment where
information flow is vital for economic growth and job creation.
Against this backdrop, investing in Science, Innovation, and Technology (STI) is critical for
Africa to achieve both Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. This
is more evident as far as research and development is concerned for being one of the three
segments of science and technology in addition to education and training as well as
scientific and technological services. Research and innovation aim to boost the continent
socio-economic development in the current knowledge-based and innovation led-economy.
Consequently, investing in STI is a prerequisite for moving forward with the implementation
of frameworks like the Science, Technology, and Innovation Strategies for Africa (STISA-
2024) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) among others, which promote
the attainment of both continental and global development goals. STISA-2024 supports a
target pledged in the Lagos Plan of Action of 1980 requiring to all AU member States to
spend at least 1% of their GDP to research. This should also entail capacitating national
science and technology commissions and councils, including other institutions that operate
as performers of research across African Union member states to keep up with the changing
digital environment brought on by 4IR.
Nevertheless, despite the potentiality of the 4 th Industrial Revolution, Africa appears to be
lagging compared to other continents despite its wealthy youthful population and natural
endowments more visible in some countries. As a result, fostering an innovation-driven and
knowledge-based economy in Africa will be entirely dependent on how member States
develop and review science and technology as well as innovation policies based on
evidence. The same applies when these policies are in alignment with national development
plan’s priorities and provide both technical and financial support to promising innovative
ideas and projects developed by young start-ups from across Africa.
An investment in business innovation will improve the quality of products and process in addition to organisational and commercialisation method for firms. The ability for African firms to compete with foreign investors can lead to resilience allowing more micro, small and
medium enterprises to take advantage of AfCFTA’s mega-market prospects.
According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics report on Data for SDG 9.5 on Research and
Development spending and personnel for 2020, Europe and North America, Eastern and
South-Eastern Asia spent 2.25 percent and 2.13 percent of GDP on R&D, also known as
Gross Domestic expenditures on R&D, (GERD), respectively, while Sub-Saharan Africa spent 0.38 percent and Northern Africa and Western Asia spent 0.81 percent. Given the
importance of STI in driving development, this lack of investment in R&D, raises concerns
about whether Africa is ready and will be able to meet its commitment to reaching both
global and continental development goals.
Therefore, expediting or enhancing the implementation of STISA-2024, which argues for
Africa’s transformation into an innovation-led, knowledge-based economy, requires pushing
both the government and business enterprises sectors to adopt STI and to comply with the
target in securing appropriate funding to Research and Development (R&D). In this context,
policymakers and decision-makers play a critical role in ensuring there are enough funds and
implementation of relevant supranational policies such as Agenda 2063 (Aspiration 1), STISA
2024 priority areas, National Development Plans (NDPs), and national science and
technology policies to foster innovation. Thus, being more inclusive with grassroots Africans
in the process will ensure that no one is left behind as far as socio-economic development is
concerned.
Consequently, taking advantage of most of the radical innovation known as the emerging
technologies, robotics, cyber-physical systems (CPS), the internet of things (IoT), cloud
computing, biotechnology, nanotechnology, cognitive computing, gene therapy, and
artificial intelligence will help in one way or the other to revolutionalise various
development sectors. For instance, in sub-sectors such as manufacturing , agriculture,
education, health, and service provision, emerging technologies are already contributing
significantly to enhancing productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness of activities in the
respective areas. Hence, putting more financial, and non-financial resources, as well as
implementing the existing policies on ST and/or Innovation, will further facilitate progress in
these sectors.
On this note, a newly established AUDA-NEPAD Centre of Excellence in STI (AUDA-NEPAD
CoE-STI) under a partnership between AUDA-NEPAD, South Africa’s Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research (CSIR), and Stellenbosch University is a foundation stone towards
enhancing STI’s role to accelerate development. This is because the AUDA-NEPAD Centre of
Excellence in STI comes with the potential to provide substantial support to fast-track both
the implementation of STISA-2024, AfCFTA, in addition to the Continental Education
Strategy for Africa (CESA) and reshape Africa’s development context. Thus, the focus of
AUDA-NEPAD CoE-STI on potential areas such as basic research, applied research,
development, and innovation (RDI) will expedite technology advancement which in turn will
lead to broader economic growth in Africa.
Furthermore, identifying and selecting promising innovations, as well as promoting their
adoption across Africa’s development ecosystem, would help accelerate socio-economic
transformation at the national, regional, and continental levels. On top of that, the new
AUDA-NEPAD’s mandate and convening power give it more responsibilities to serve
Member States and Regional Economic Communities. This can help sustain the vision of the
Centre of Excellence in STI to spearhead the development of evidence-based solutions and
improve expertise/critical skills in specific thematic areas to sharpen the delivery of National
Development Plans (NDPs) and Agenda 2063 for Regional Integration.
Seleman Yusuph Kitenge is a Project Assistant Knowledge Capitalisation for
AUDA-NEPAD
