The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are so classified on the basis of their scores determined by the criteria of socio-economic development. Africa has 32 of the world’s 44 LDCs. Graduation from that category of countries signifies the progress that the countries have achieved in their development efforts. This paper discusses the LDCs, the challenges facing their graduation from the LDC classification and the prospects for upliftment. The classification is based primarily on three core sets of criteria namely, GNI per capita, the human asset index (HAI) and the economic and environmental vulnerability index (EVI). The paper argues that these indices present opportunities for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) application to address challenges and enhance prospects for advancement. It highlights the challenges intrinsic to the LDCs’ contexts, and the challenges prevailing in the current global economy and political systems. The paper discusses options for navigating these challenges through STI. LDCs have low STI capacities with relatively lower-than-expected impacts of their STI systems on their economies and societies. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reflect global aspirations, which are relevant to the development contexts of the LDCs. The current political and economic policy shifts and uncertainties are posing new challenges for the LDCs and constraining their graduation from this category of developing countries. The frontier technologies and the increasing technological innovations are bringing to the fore the importance of prioritizing STI, which holds the key for addressing conventional and emerging challenges.  This paper concludes that, there is need for strategic STI capacity development for LDCs, with emphasis on the areas of the socio-economic indicators for graduation from the LDC category.

Keynote Speaker 

Prof. George Owusu Essegbey

He is the Chief Executive Officer CSIR-Technology and Transfer Centre, Accra, Ghana and former President of AfricaLics. He was the Director of the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of Ghana, in Accra. He held this position for more than ten years spearheading the institute’s development of research projects and partnerships. He served on a number of national and international Boards including Ghana’s National Development Planning Commission (NDPC). He has several years of experience in Science and Technology (S&T) policy research, innovation studies, climate change and sustainable agriculture. He holds a Ph.D. in Development Studies (University of Cape Coast) and M.A. in International Affairs (University of Ghana). He did Ph.D. internship at the United Nations University (Institute for New Technologies, now UNU-MERIT) in Maastricht, The Netherlands. Dr. Essegbey was a recipient of a Commonwealth Fellowship at the Policy Research in Engineering, Science and Technology (PREST) of the University of Manchester, UK. In the course of his research career, Dr. Essegbey served various national and international organisations with his expertise including FAO, UNESCO, UNCTAD, UNEP, WIPO and the World Bank. He was a member of the 10-Member Expert Group supporting the United Nations Technology Facilitation Mechanism with the UN Inter-agency Task Team on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) for the SDGs.