We face unprecedented challenges—climate change, public health crises, deeper divides, economic instability, and geopolitical shifts. The importance of collaborative research, capacity building, and innovation has never been more evident.

Chapter 3 on “Science, technology and innovation (STI), and digital cooperation” of the recently approved Pact of the Future, captures the essence of our aspirations on the role of STI as a catalyst for a more inclusive, equitable, sustainable and prosperous world for all.

Why private sector is important to innovation ecosystems

A dynamic national innovation system is often supported by a vibrant private sector, an active research community and a range of robust governmental and public institutions that interact, relate and work together competitively and collaboratively.

The numerous groundbreaking scientific discoveries and other research outcomes mostly rely on the creativity and ingenuity of the private sector to break new ground, reach markets, create employment and wealth, and transform lives.

In part, the private sector is a major funder of research and development. For instance, the business sector funds about 58% of the gross domestic R&D expenditure of the European Union and even higher for some G7 countries (e.g., Japan – 78%; United States – 68% and Germany – 63%). Further, several business angels, venture capital firms and private foundations funds are private sector entities that nurture emerging innovators and entrepreneurs; and support the growth of innovative firms. As such, capacity-building efforts should include and involve the private sector.

The COVID-19 pandemic clearly highlighted the risk of Africa’s heavy reliance on the research and development capacity of other regions for testing, management, and treatment of its people. COVID-19 perhaps reminded us that current approaches to research capacity-building have not laid a sound STI foundation to meets its needs. Efforts to build research capacity in Africa with the private sector are urgently needed, to accelerate its ability to catchup, and to meet the globally agreed sustainable development goals.

Avenues for strengthening research capacity with the private sector

There are several avenues we can explore to strengthen research capacity. These include industrial clusters, special economic zones and innovation/or smart cities, operating through an eco-system approach. From the Silicon Valley in the US to the Silicon Savannah in Kenya and the Milano Innovation Hub here in Italy, science parks bring research intensive universities, industries and governments together to create a supportive vibrant community of researchers, inventors, serial entrepreneurs, funders and other business service providers, which ultimately strengthens research capacity.

Italy and its well-established industrial clusters account for almost a third of the country’s employment and exports. Clusters are powerful tools for concentrating businesses in a specific sector to benefit from shared services (e.g. logistics, finance, marketing), training and research facilities, and government support. The BioValley Cluster, at the trinational border of France, Germany and Switzerland, is an example of a research-driven cluster that Africa can emulate within the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Special economic zones or areas are also strategies for building research and innovation capacity with the private sector by attracting investment and skills to advance technological upgrading. Special economic zones range from small areas to entire cities and regions. Several countries in Africa, such as Ethiopia and Morocco, have established economic zones that have attracted transnational corporations.

A number of these efforts contribute to the growth of cities as innovation hubs and of smart cities. The ability of cities to develop technologies and tools for collecting, analyzing and applying data to improve the environmental, economic and social wellbeing of communities will partly depend on building research and development capacity for continuous improvements.

These strategies encourage collaborations among academia, industry and public sector, reduce the risk of investment in research and development, lower the cost of doing business (e.g. shared services) and build trust among key stakeholders. However, great care is needed to ensure these strategies encourage the spillover of knowledge and economic opportunities into the broader local and national economies to minimize widening inequalities within countries and regions, especially for small and medium-scale enterprises. Smart local content policies and national suppliers’ development programmes can facilitate the generation of these co-benefits.

Africa is ready for partnerships in R&D

The global private sector has an incredible opportunity for cooperation in Africa’s R&D sector to spur a sustainable future in Africa today than at any other time. The continent is home to about 345 firms with annual revenues of US$1 billion or more; has over 200 special economic zones that are starting to export high-tech and value- added product (e.g. Morocco’s automotive industry exports were worth US$13 billion in 2023); and over 1000 technology and innovation hubs whose startups attracted US$1.4 billion in venture capital funding in 2023.

To this end, we have launched an ambitious de-risking investments programme to generate an African investment map and make the continent a globally competitive investment destination. The programme involves multi-dimensional interventions including decision-support modeling, spatial planning tools such as GIS-enabled hotspot analysis, skills gaps assessments, and better investment profiling at national, sub-regional and continental levels through growth diagnostics and other data analytics.

Africa has an innovative, youthful, entrepreneurial and increasingly educated population. There are about 18 million students enrolled in African universities (comparable to similar numbers for EU or United States); and the number of African universities ranked by the Times Higher Education has grown from four (4) in 2012 to 97 in 2023, suggesting a rise in academic research excellence. That number is growing fast. Africa presents unmatched growing base of talent and skills, technology startups, and business development.

The continent also presents many opportunities for alternative sustainable development pathways. A range of new technologies and practices that are increasingly cheaper, fairer, easier to install and manage can enable Africa to take a different development route. For instance, Africa has the renewable energy mineral resources to bring affordable solar and wind energies to its 600 million people without electricity with less damage to the environment.

In our collaboration with the rest of the world, we must ensure that talent is retained on the continent and brain drain is avoided.

ECA’s work in building research capacity with the private sector

Let me highlight some of the efforts ECA is undertaking in this arena:

a)    Origin Research and Innovation Labs

Launched last October by ECA, the Origin Research and Innovation Hub is designed as a sustainable continental platform for a) solving complex problems; b) co-creation and showcasing innovative ideas; and c) for nurturing talent with groundbreaking research ideas. The first of the planned physical hubs is hosted by Kenya’s Dedan Kimathi University of Technology. I am sure you may be asking how is it different from other tech hubs or labs?

In terms of problem-solving, Origin works with several entities to identify the root causes of problems they wish to solve now and brings them as challenges to a global community of solvers. Origin has so far hosted about 12 challenges of local communities, farmers and firms. It is impressive to see rural communities invest their limited financial resources in research to address their own problems.

In terms of training, research and co-creation, Origin is working with Semiconductor Technologies Limited (Africa’s only exporter of chips) to design an open a platform for teaching, research and production of semiconductors. This effort is backed by a Masters program on nanotechnology that will admit its first students this year and a venture-based Masters in partnership with Equity Bank.

This October, with partners in the US and Africa, two more Origin platforms will be launched for Personal Healthcare Product Development for SMEs and Quantum Computing for Climate Change Research. It is our intention to support Origin to transform Africa into a global go-to-place for research and innovation. I invite you to partner with ECA in this endeavour to achieve impact at scale.

b)    Alliance of Entrepreneurial Universities in Africa

Another major effort to build Africa’s research capacity is the Alliance of Entrepreneurial Universities in Africa - launched a year ago. The Alliance seeks to stimulate African universities to seed and nurture 1 million startups with an annual revenue of $200 billion in a decade (by 2033). We currently have 42 official members and another 40 participating universities. The aim is to ensure that all viable research outputs are commercialized at home and/or abroad; entrepreneurial individuals and entities are supported at home and/or abroad; and sharing of good practices, information and business intelligence.

The Third Forum of the Alliance is taking place from 23-24 October in Kenya, hosted by Dedan Kimathi University of Technology supported by ECA, Intel-Kenya, Google, UNESCO, and Universities Fund Kenya. The Forum will be preceded by an Origin-fest (where solvers will design solutions to development challenges) and a STEM Bootcamp for high schools. We invite you to work with us to shape the Alliance and build Africa’s research capacity.

C)   Other efforts

In partnership with Google and other private and public entities, we are upskilling over 5000 youths and educators from 14 African countries in digital technologies such as AI and robotics of which the national winners will represent their countries at the World Robot Olympiad in Spain, later this year. Our aim is to attract more students to STEM fields and careers, especially females, which are key to building research capacity in Africa. We are also working with Rwanda to develop a STEM Centre of Excellence for Africa. Other similar centres of excellence are in Congo on artificial intelligence and Togo on cyber security.

We are also providing support to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to develop a Transboundary Special Economic Zone for Batteries and Electric Vehicles and to Zambia and Zimbabwe for the development of a common Agro-Economic Park. These efforts bring academia, industry, and governments together to share knowledge and other resources to build research, innovation capabilities and foster industrial development to support the realization of Agendas 2030 and 2063.

In addition, the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP) equips African professionals with the skills and knowledge needed to drive the continent’s development agenda. In this regard, IDEP and the Government of Italy are collaborating in capacity development whose second phase was launched in June 2024. The program's objectives are to improve intra-African trade and the global trade share of African countries, promote employment, enhance gender equity, and improve overall well-being. The program aims to increase intra-African trade and trade share with the EU and Italy, strengthen policymakers' capacity to adopt inclusive trade policies, and enhance the African private sector's ability, particularly SMEs, to leverage digital trade and improve international trade relations.

The global economy is changing, and Africa must change even faster to catchup. For instance, the global market for artificial intelligence is expected to grow from

$538 billion in 2023 to $1.8 trillion by 2030 while that of biotechnology may reach

$3.88 trillion by 2030. Africa’s share of these markets is estimated at 1% despite Africa accounting for about 15% of the global population. These new markets will be far greater than those of copper, coffee, diamonds, or lithium.

In conclusion, let me reiterate our readiness, and that of Africa, to cooperate with the private sector to build research capacity and facilitate technology transfer, I am grateful to the organizers of this event for the opportunity to be here.

Let us use this platform to forge stronger partnerships, harness our collective strengths, and build a future where research and innovation are at the heart of Africa’s sustainable development.

By Mr. Antonio Pedro,

Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)