At the beginning of October delegates from industry, universities and government from all over Africa will gather in Cape Town for the Innovation Africa Summit. The meeting will focus on the realisation of advances in technology for the benefit of education and R&D in Africa…In other news, the Chinese government has pledged to support science education on the continent through R&D and innovation in various science facets. It is no longer enough to put chalk to the board, and Africa knows this; the kind of innovation that will release us from dependency will require self-sufficiency generated through a strong R&D base.Rwanda definitely knows the potential of a knowledge based economy, thus investing heavily in intellectual infrastructure by sending hundreds of students abroad for technical training. I am not aware of the changes made, however, on the ground, other than the establishment of a reputable institution like Carnegie-Mellon University in Kigali. But as I mentioned in a previous article this year, there has to be an element of Rwandan ownership in this education process for it to be truly successful; in the same regard, we need to set the stage for the ‘aid’ China (or any other country) plans to dish out to ensure we come out at the top.For example, one of the initiatives for medical support is to send medical personnel to provide free medical assistance to the needy. This kind of charity is worth recognition but does not help the continent long term; knowledge transfer will benefit us ten-fold what charity ever could. Self-sufficiency is where we should be headed, so to speak. Last week I wrote a piece on FDI and the need to protect domestic businesses; within a similar context, our feet have to be on the ground when embracing support from the China government, which has been pointed out for doing extensive business in Africa but not necessarily investing in domestic capacity – hiring Chinese citizens to do the job and not creating business and training opportunities for Africans on the ground. Let it be clear that I am in no way against a partnership with China, which has proven to have strong affiliations with Africa; technology transfer from the mainland to the continent will bear fruit for decades to come. But with this technology transfer, comes the need for skills acquisition and transfer so that we have the capacity to run these enterprises on our own.This brings me back to the afore-mentioned Innovation Africa Summit. The objective of the summit tobridge tech advances in industry with academia (and vice-versa), and create a harmonious relationship linked by a boost in R&D, is the closest thing to skills acquisition and transfer that we can get – starting from the grassroots. That could mean attracting foreign investments but establishing relationships between these corporations and R&D departments in institutions, just as an example.When all is said and done, technology transfer coupled with research, resulting in skills acquisition and transfer (and a degree of ownership) may single-handedly alter the course of our country and the continent at large. But right now, our biggest challenge is to think ahead and strategize so that at the end of the day, our intellectual infrastructure and the private sector are capitalizing on the knowledge and technology being imported into the country; or like Charlie Sheen put it, “winning”….
