Science and technology are essential elements in the sustainable development process – science as a aid in understanding problems and technology as a tool for solving them.

Claudia ten Have and W. Bradnee Chambers (UNU-IAS)

UN University convened an official side-event on “Science and Technology for Africa’s Sustainable Development” at the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV). This high-level panel highlighted areas where Japanese and international expertise can be applied to African efforts to establish policies and programmes that support sustainable development.

The event, chaired by W. Bradnee Chambers, a senior programme officer at UNU Institute for Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), opened with a report on a recent UNU-IAS pre-TICAD Public Forum on “Science, Technology and Innovation for a Sustainable Future: Priorities, Pathways and Partnerships for Japan and Africa” presented by Claudia ten Have of UNU-IAS.

The panel started with a presentation on innovation by Calestous Juma, co-chair of the African Union’s High-Level Panel on Modern Biotechnology, and director of Science, Technology and Innovation at the Harvard Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

He said that innovation does not happen without risk and said that one of the main factors limiting innovation in Africa is digital isolation in African universities.

Eckhard Deutscher, chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee, said that the committee’s analysis of Official Development Assistance statistics shows that many countries have not reached their promised targets.

The third member of the panel, Cecil Masoka, minister-counsellor for Science and Technology with the South African Embassy in Tokyo, discussed the traditional intervention focus areas of social development (water, health and education) and the importance of taking a sustainable focus-area approach (social development plus industrial development).

He also Africa also needed infrastructure development and high-level partnerships for technology transfer, innovation and policy dialogue.