[Editorial] Scientific research is the key to development

Hundreds of the world’s best scientific minds are currently meeting in Kigali for the The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) general meeting.The choice of Kigali is not lost to imagination as the country has shifted attention to promoting scientific education as its development driver. The commitment to science has led to the scientific world taking notice. This year, The Next Einstein Forum will move its base to Kigali. It brings together African thinkers in many areas to work on and seek solutions to a multitude of challenges. The University of Rwanda is also home to the East African Institute of Fundamental Research. The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) will also have Rwanda as its global headquarters. The above mentioned and many others are an indication that science in Rwanda is on the move and the government is seeing that it stays that way.During TWAS general meetings, outstanding scientific researchers are recognised and others are inducted into the prestigious select group. It is quite interesting and telling that of those awarded in the Kigali meeting as well as the 44 new admitted Fellows, more than half were from China and India.This does not need a nuclear scientist to deduce the reasons behind both countries’ advanced scientific achievements and how they have translated into economic growth. So the TWAS meeting should be an opportunity for researchers from developing countries to sit up and listen. They hold the future in their brains, what is needed is unlocking that potential, and luckily, they might find the key in Kigali.

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[Editorial] Scientific research is the key to development