After three decades of trial and error, innovation policy is taking off in Africa. Our new policy brief tracks the roll out of science, technology and innovation (ST&I) policies in 11 African nations, in the context of various development issues.



Experts from around the world recently met in Nairobi, Kenya to analyse innovation policies in Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Among other outputs, the workshop mapped ST&I policy progress set against each country’s ‘Developmental Vision’.

These visions address umbrella issues like poverty reduction, employment generation, food security, social welfare, structural transformation and industrial development, information and communication technology (ICT) and environmental sustainability, with ST&I plans and policies being the integral part. To achieve their vision, we found that different countries favour different ST&I policies. For instance, Ethiopia’s vision is oriented towards export promotion and growth, Mauritius stresses green growth, and Tanzania emphasises better productivity.

Workshops for Policymakers

This was the first in a series of workshops entitled “Design and Evaluation of Innovation Policies in African Countries” (DEIP-Africa). It included high-level policymakers in science, technology and innovation from among others the Southern African Development Community, the Common Market for Southern and Eastern Africa, and the East African Community.

Part of the long-running ‘DEIP’ series, the programme was organised by UNU-MERIT in partnership with the African Observatory of Science, Technology and Innovation and the Pan African University – Institute for Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation, under the auspices of the African Union Commission.

All government institutions in Africa are invited to submit proposals to co-run similar workshops via merit.unu.edu/deip.

