Reflections on the Webinar “The origin of AfricaLics and the field of innovation and development studies research in Africa”

Authors: Dr. Ann Kingiri and Mourine Chepkemoi

Background to the webinar

Innovation and development studies in Africa is an emerging field, which has originally taken inspiration from key scholars within innovation systems thinking such as Chris Freeman, Dick Nelson and Bengt-Åke Lundvall among others. In 2003, the book entitled Putting Africa First. The Making of African Innovation Systems (Muchie, M. et. al.) was published marking a strong wish to start filling the gap in literature on innovation systems thinking and the different types of innovation systems in Africa. As Chris Freeman noted in the foreword to the book, the work on Africa was (and continues) to be especially important. The continent has an extremely complex pattern of national boundaries, ethnic, religious and tribal sub-systems and a historical heritage of colonial and post-colonial influence. These all have deep implications for the current economic and institutional development on the continent. They also make it more complicated to understand linkages and interaction between science, technology, innovation and society.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, several African countries had some of the highest economic growth rates in the world – and the continent is increasingly the home of innovation later taken up in other parts of the world – from mobile money transfer services to the use of drones for medicines delivery. A lot still needs doing, however. Innovation and Development studies research is key to understanding the way science, technology, innovation and society interact. Such studies are key to enhancing the knowledge base available for policy makers and practitioners as they make decisions concerning future development paths in African countries. Decisions that are critical both for the possibilities to reduce inequality and poverty and to ensuring more environmentally sustainable development.

The establishment of AfricaLics in 2012 was a key part of efforts by African scholars and others to enhance innovation studies and the broader field of innovation and development studies on the continent. The formation of AfricaLics was the culmination of a longer process during which several Globelics conferences on the African continent had initiated debates on how to support the development of the field. Specifically, during the All-Africa Globelics seminar in Dar es Salaam 2012, a number of African Scholars pointed to the need for increased attention to the role of innovation and competence building systems for achieving structural transformation of African economies.

In this webinar, key founding members of AfricaLics outlined the background for the establishment of the AfricaLics network and inspired a discussion on future research priorities of the network in relation to the future of Innovation and Development (I & D) studies in Africa. This webinar was the first one in a series of webinars scheduled in 2021 to discuss the overarching topic “the development of I & D field in Africa”.

Speakers

Dr. Ann Kingiri (AfricaLics Secretariat and African Centre for Technology Studies). Dr. Kingiri gave an up-date on key activities of AfricaLics efforts to develop the Innovation and Development studies research in Africa since AfricaLics establishment in 2012.

Prof. Bengt-Åke Lundvall the Founding father of Globelics and AfricaLics, Proffesor Emeritus, Aalborg University and Lund University. Prof Lundval gave the background for the establishment of AfricaLics and how AfricaLics may position itself to advance I&D as a research field in Africa in the coming years.

Dr. Bitrina Diyamett the first AfricaLics president and the CEO, Science Technology and Innovation Policy Research Organization (STIPRO), Tanzania. Dr. Diyamett shared her experience and ideas on the development of I&D as a field of research in Africa.

Prof. Mammo Muchie serves in the AfricaLics Scientific Board (ASB). He is also the chair of the advisory board of African Talent Hub of the community interest company, advisor to the Africa Union’s student council and a mentor for the African Entrepreneurship award. Prof Mammo gave his remarks based on the presentations made.

Key highlights from the speakers

Dr. Ann Kingiri in her opening remarks highlighted the need the importance of I & D field that is focused on Africa, citing Africa’s unique context that is made up of diversities within the continent that include cultures and history among others. She noted that this context provides numerous opportunities to study NSI & society but also challenges that complicate efforts to understand embedded linkages and interactions. She added that, Africa is a hub for innovation (e.g. digital innovation and new innovations to combat COVID-19 among others). She emphasized that a lot need to be done in terms of generating relevant knowledge to inform strategic developmental paths and decisions that enhance poverty reduction & inclusive development. She cautioned that there are challenges ahead, although not insurmountable, with one challenge being building capacity to undertake research on role of learning, innovation and competence building systems (LICS) for achieving structural transformation of African economies. AfricaLics through research capacity building activities is contributing to addressing this gap more generally.

She introduced the webinar and the speakers and their respective topics and encouraged the Network members & friends of AfricaLics to plug in; to inform and shape that process towards Africa’s social and economic development.

Prof. Lundvall emphasized that the objective of establishing the AfricaLics network was to consolidate and strengthen the existing research networks and the knowledge base for policy strategies to promote well-being and capability on science, technology and innovation, and to build a network that will provide a platform where different ideas and actors can meet and take new initiatives together that may or may not involve collaboration with partners outside Africa. Engineering and design capabilities and economic development, building industrial complexes around commodity production, mapping and understanding work and learning in the formal and informal sector and exploiting the economic presence of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC)-countries for development were the initial fields of focus.

Dr. Diyamett noted that Innovation & Development (I&D) is a relatively new and not well established and popularized field in Africa. She reiterated that most of the young participants in the field have not had the chance to be well rooted in theory. Knowledge developed through I&D research is important as it enables right decisions making in science, technology and innovation (STI) for development. In her research, she mentions that I&D research has been related directly to policy from applied research, although of course like any other field of research it has its own basic research – producing knowledge without immediate use in mind.  

Prof. Muchie gave emphasis on the global digital transformation shift and argued that the need for innovative ways of learning, greater mindset, digital transformation, and the education system has not been left behind. As a result, from the real time dynamics, he noted the need to re-contextualize, rethink, re-engineer and re-learn. Students are exposed to long-term learning, strategic thinking, interpersonal skills, and a desire to learn from problem-based learning. Students must be prepared for long-term innovations and development to be able to concentrate on real-time activities.

Discussion

Discussions of the future of I&D in Africa and the history of AfricaLics inspired a rich debate during the meeting. Some of the key issues raised during the discussion are highlighted below.

  • The key challenges on I&D in Africa
    • Policy guidance is necessary: underdeveloped STI capabilities, widespread market and systems weaknesses are hurdles to innovation.
    • Several new concepts have been created, but they have yet to be specifically defined or linked to existing concepts, which may leave young scholars perplexed on their role in development.
    • Apart from a handful, governments and donors have not prioritized I&D research capacity and capabilities in their areas of specialization. This has a direct impact on funding since there is a lack of interest in and alignment for science.
  • Fundraising and funding: there is need for I&D scholars to start developing joint fundraising or proposal writing. There is need to raise awareness within the governments and donors for the proposals to get a good reception for funding. Ideas in the proposals should be very innovative and diverse not forgetting to include gender issues.
  • Stimulating demand for knowledge is important as governments and donors use the information available in order to make decisions and give resources/funding. Universities should use problem based, action based and work integrated learning in order to produce great thinkers in the innovation system.
  • Some participants proposed an applied multidisciplinary research and linking with the real industry needs. Projects that focus on nexus thinking provide an opportunity to bring in the analysis of technology, science, innovation and society.
  • Linking with policy makers: there is need for inclusive innovation and development. Bring in interlinkages between academia and industry to come up with real time sustainable solutions.
  • There seems to be a disconnect between the grassroot actors and the scholars. There is need for an inclusive discussion on defining I&D as this could reduce the existing gaps.
  • Mentorship programmes need to be structured to support I&D young scholar. AfricaLics has several mentorship oriented activities that participants could plug in. These include 2 weeks – PhD academies, PhD visiting fellows programme and a mentorship programme, and these opportunities are advertised in AfricaLics website and social media platforms.
  • There are new technological issues. This means new ways of thinking, structuring and implementations. Innovations should be relevant and contribute to sustainable development. In this regard, there is need for paradigm shift in terms of mindsets change, real creators & innovators as well as linking the grassroots with the advanced scholars.
  • It is important to intensify popularization and awareness raising of I&D research and its crucial role in growth. This means among other things strengthening the nodes (institutions) that house the members of the network and create a powerful network on weak nodes in a sustainable way.

Key recommendations

  • Exploring how best to ground the imminent theories is essential. This could be in addition to academies, fellowships and mentorship, in addition to exploring what else can be introduced and the best way these could be structured.
  • Fund raising is key, research capacity is built through doing research, and therefore funds must be available for I&D research. Great ideas can innovate and create opportunities.
  • There is need to have discussions around infiltration of other conceptual framings, defining I&D field, and enriching this field by interrogating the broader set of disciplines linked.
Reflections on the Webinar “The origin of AfricaLics and the field of innovation and development studies research in Africa”

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