Beyond access: the impact of Africa’s agriculture research outputs and literature A keynote address at the Third IAALD African Chapter Conference e-Agriculture for improved livelihoods and food security in Africa 21-23 May, 2012 Johannesburg, South Africa Andrew M. Kaniki, PhD Executive Director: Knowledge Fields Development Research and Innovation Support and Advancement (RISA) National Research Foundation [email protected]
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Beyond access: the impact of Africa’s agriculture research outputs and literature
A keynote address at the Third IAALD African Chapter Conference
e-Agriculture for improved livelihoods and food security in Africa
21-23 May, 2012Johannesburg, South Africa
Andrew M. Kaniki, PhDExecutive Director: Knowledge Fields Development
Research and Innovation Support and Advancement (RISA)National Research Foundation
Strategic Context:Towards the knowledge society/economy
• African Governments have set themselves the objective of transforming their countries and the continent into a knowledge society that competes effectively in a global system
• The agenda… to become a knowledge society is increasingly driven by Africans. The African Union and more specifically NEPAD are setting the agenda (Africa as a knowledge society: a reality check Int. Info & Lib Review. Britz et. al 2006)
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Knowledge Society Indicators:Towards the knowledge society/economy
• Qualitative measurement of the use of, and access to, modern ICTs;
• The number of scientists in a country;
• The amount spent on R&D as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) – Executive Council 8th Ordinary Session of AU 16-21 Jan, 2006, 1% of
GDP spend; – Maputo declaration 2003 directed AU member countries national
agricultural investment to at least 10%3
Knowledge Society Indicators:Towards the knowledge society/economy
• The ability to produce and export high technology;
• The number of patents filed in a country; and
• The number [and impact] of articles published in highly ranked [impact] scholarly journals.
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Why the knowledge economy?
Source: DA King, Nature 430 (2004) 311 (15 July 2004)
Sustainable wealthSustainable wealth
Why the Knowledge Economy
More than 50% of new wealth creation in the world’s largest economies is ascribed to knowledge based industries, where the major proportion of the workforce is employed in knowledge-based jobs and the major proportion of firms that innovate use technology to do so. The DST aims to lead a programme of interventions over the next ten years to drive the transformation of the South African economy to a knowledge economy.
Innovation towards a knowledge economy: The ten year plan for South Africa (2008-2018) pp. 4-5
Drivers of Economic Competitiveness
• Drivers of competitiveness:– Investing in human beings is the best way to enhance
productive capacities – profits and efficiencies (Riane Esler 2007 – The real wealth of nations)
• Economic studies indicate that even before the IT revolution as much as 85% of measured US growth per capita was due to technological change (US National Academy of Science)
1. Human Capital2. Technological change (Knowledge production, Innovation:
US study on Productivity Growth)
Impact of Africa’s agriculture research outputs and literature - Indicators
• Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) (managed by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) – http://www.asti.cgiar.org)