Opportunity For African Countries Research Articles

Optimising governance capabilities for science, research and innovation in Africa

This article discusses empirical challenges and opportunities for African countries in their quest to have sustainable mechanisms for funding research and innovation. Like elsewhere in different parts of the world, African countries have been exploring different approaches, institutional reforms, models and mechanisms towards more efficient and effective funding and financing of research and innovation to enhance their individual and collective economic development aspirations. This paper derives from a 2018 to 2019 study which used a combination of primary and secondary data sources to inform current debates and reviews on the re- organization of research and innovation funding in Africa. Attempts to copy experiences of high income economies in harnessing and deploying funding mechanisms into national research and innovation systems are not appropriate if not accompanied by adaptation to systemic and contextual aspects in receiving countries and sectors. This paper presents and analyses recent empirical evidence from 15 African countries to argue that successful adaptations are not just a matter of technological and innovation capabilities, timely and adequate resourcing, but are a function of decision-making and governance capabilities, which in turn arise from deliberate and interactive learning across the entire research and innovation system. This work contributes to some of the themes covered in this journal recently on the broad issue of resources for innovation, including financial and relational resources.

China’s Rise and Opportunity for Structural Transformation in Africa

China’s economic development has been miraculous since the transition from a planned economy to a market economy in 1979. This article provides answers to five related questions: Why was it possible for China to achieve such extraordinary performance during its transition? Why was China unable to attain similar success before its transition started? Why did most other transition economies, including those in Africa, fail to achieve a similar performance? Can African countries have a similar performance as China had in the past three decades and how to do that? What are the opportunities for African countries from China’s rise? The paper concludes with a positive note: If the country in Africa adopt a pragmatic approach to develop its economy along its comparative advantages in a market economy and tap into the potential of latecomer’s advantages with a facilitating state, the African country can benefit from the pending relocation of China’s light manufacturing and grow dynamically like China.

Unique considerations for advancing genomic medicine in African populations.

Genomic medicine presents many opportunities for improved health outcomes in the future. African countries, however, face many challenges in harnessing these opportunities for the benefit of African patients. Unique aspects that fuel these challenges include the enormous genetic diversity found in African individuals and communities across the continent; a high burden of infectious diseases and prioritized commitment of scarce public health resources to primary healthcare; limited economic resources for genomic health research and translation; and a history of the one-way transfer of samples, human resources and research translation off the continent. While these challenges are significant, there are opportunities for African countries to harness the economic and health benefits of genomic medicine for people in Africa. An active and supported biotechnology sector can provide an avenue for translating the benefits of African genomic research to African patients and populations.

Evaluating the technical efficiency of African economies using DEA and the bootstrap approach

It is well-acknowledged that many African economies perform well below their potential, yet there is little knowledge about the distance of these economies from their productivity frontiers. This study examines the technical efficiency of 43 African countries using the non-parametric DEA technique and the double-bootstrap approach. Technical efficiency results by income class show that the best performers in terms of technical efficiency are countries belonging to the upper middle group, followed by the lower upper middle-income countries, while the least efficient countries belong to the lower income economies. Double bootstrap and truncated regression results show that improvements in governance, promotion of FDI, and information communication technologies are major drivers of technical efficiency. This study provides direction and opportunities for African countries to increase output by improving efficiency of resource utilisation.

The roles of national quality infrastructure toward the sustainable production of biofuels in Africa

The production of biofuels is increasingly regarded as an opportunity for African countries to attain various development goals. Yet, there are risks associated with it, namely concerning food security, emissions of GHG, and the sustainability of eco-systems. Addressing these requires an innovation policy that promotes an adjustment of practices to local social and environmental conditions. In this paper, it shall be argued that quality infrastructure can be a vehicle to implement such innovation policy and overviews the roles that can be performed by its different elements.

How relevant to sub-Saharan Africa is the Kyoto Protocol?

The African Recovery Journal once referred to it as, ‘an opportunity for African countries to attract new financing for their own sustainable development’. It was indeed waited for with much anticipation. In fact, today, it is readily observable that the international Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) market is becoming increasingly dynamic and projected to grow exponentially. However, judging from hard facts on the ground, the reality in sub-Saharan Africa is grim. Moreover, analysts are forecasting a convergence in the market; towards a focus on a few project types in a limited number of host countries. On this scale both, Kenya and Uganda are non-existent as are the rest of their sub-Sahara African compatriots. This paper briefly looks at the history of the CDM and what could have gone wrong for an instrument that had so much promise for subSaharan Africa.

Food irradiation: An emerging opportunity for African countries - Review article

Food irradiation: An emerging opportunity for African countries - Review article