M Mangena: IST-Africa 2006 Conference

3 May 2006

“A Strategic African-European IST Partnership: Knowledge and Innovation for
Sustainable Development”

Mr Chairperson,
Minister Massingue,
My fellow speakers,
Dear colleagues and friends

The first IST-Africa Conference is indeed a historic event. I had the
privilege to attend in 2004, in The Hague, the annual European IST event. In
2002 and 2003 my predecessor, Dr Ben Ngubane, also attended European IST events
in Copenhagen and Milan respectively. These forays presented valuable
opportunities for policy dialogue with our European partners and positively
advised the formulation of South Africa’s research and innovation strategies
for information and communication technology. The Department of Science and
Technology, therefore, views the convening of such an event which focuses on
Africa as a contribution to the advancement of information society development
in Africa.

I therefore have chosen as a theme for my address this morning ‘the
importance of fostering a strategic African-European partnership in information
society technologies.’ This partnership should optimally harness the potential
of knowledge and innovation as instruments to promote sustainable
development.

Information and communication technologies indeed have a pervasive influence
in all aspects of modern economic and social endeavours and transcend regional
and national borders. To grow and prosper the global information society in
which we live requires strong societal participation and international
partnership.

Elaborating on this theme, this talk will focus on three dimensions of the
African-European partnership.

Firstly, it will look at the role played by information society technologies
as part of the African growth and development agenda and specifically the need
for an African research and innovation agenda for information and communication
technology.

Secondly, it will explain why international scientific and technological
co-operation is essential from a global sustainable development perspective and
how events such as IST-Africa can promote such collaboration.

Thirdly, it will underline why research and innovation partnerships between
Africa and Europe are of strategic importance and sketch how such co-operation
could be enhanced through, for example, instruments such as the Seventh
Framework Programme.

This impressive assembly of information and communication technology (ICT)
professionals gathered here fully understands the critical contribution that
information society technologies can make towards promoting growth and fighting
poverty in Africa. All of you fully appreciate the urgent need for Africa to
step up its investment in and application of these technologies.

Evidence abounds of the impact ICT can make in supporting democratisation
and good governance on our continent. There are many examples of e-health and
e-education interventions which will be discussed at this conference, which are
markedly improving the quality of the lives of Africans. Similarly, ICT has
been at the forefront of the economic upswing and greater engagement with trade
opportunities enjoyed by many African countries.

The thematic focus areas of the IST-Africa Conference, of e-government,
e-health, e-education and ICT for agriculture are therefore most appropriate.
For Africa to optimally engage with the opportunities presented by these
technologies, however, investment in strengthening the continent’s indigenous
ICT research and innovation capacities is essential. It is therefore incumbent
on Africa to increase investment in and leverage international co-operation and
support for strengthening its ICT human capital and knowledge base.

I am pleased to report that there has been a concerted African response to
these challenges in recent years. One of the most salient developments is the
African Ministerial Council on Science and Technology (AMCOST), which adopted
Africa’s Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action (ASTCPA) in Dakar,
Senegal, in September 2005. This plan maps the efforts that Africa will
undertake through national and regional investments as well as international
partnerships to strengthen the continent’s research and innovation
capacities.

Significantly, the plan has identified information and communication
technology as one of its flagship research and development programmes. The
plan, therefore, proposes strategies to stimulate technical change and ICT
innovation in Africa. A specific priority area is the focus on building
software development skills including the strengthening of open-source software
capacities and their application in areas such as education and health. It also
proposes indicative projects in the e-health and e-education fields which are
currently being advanced through regional processes.

On the national front South Africa has developed a national ICT Research and
Development (R&D) Strategy that is in the final stages of approval by
appropriate authorities. The strategy is geared towards building world-class
ICT research capacities in South Africa, developing a strong and robust ICT
national innovation chain, including the critical links with industry and
enhancing ICT human resource capacities.

The strategy articulates the efforts South Africa would have to undertake to
achieve these objectives. These will include the development of effective
research infrastructures, fostering vibrant international partnerships,
creating an enabling ICT policy and institutional environment and securing
appropriate funding for ICT research and innovation activities.

These advances sketch developments built on the global consensus that had
emerged at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and reinforced at
the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society. Based on the belief that
knowledge and innovation are essential instruments for growth and development,
Africa has in recent years made resolute efforts to strengthen its science and
technology capacities. These efforts will only be successful when complemented
by vibrant international partnerships.

This brings me to the second focus area of my address, the critical
importance of international partnership for Africa. South Africa’s National
Research and Development Strategy adopted in 2002, identified international
co-operation in science and technology as a strategic imperative, highlighting
the three objectives such co-operation should support.

Firstly, global partnerships of mutually beneficial nature enable partners
to share in each others’ experience through learning enabled by c-ooperation.
Secondly, such collaborations also ensure much higher returns on national
investments by leveraging greater resources availed through co-investments made
by international partners. Thirdly and most relevant for our discussion, South
Africa places a high premium on African continental and regional co-operation.
The progress achieved by African science and technology co-operation
initiatives has indeed contributed to advancing overall continental and
regional co-operation.

Through international co-operation progress within science and technology
systems can be fast tracked while South-South co-operation permits the pooling
of expertise to address problems which are specific to the developing world.
There is indeed a diverse portfolio of instruments available to support
international co-operation.

These include the traditional peer to peer scientific co-operation,
international development co-operation programmes, competitive international
funding programmes, international investment initiatives, global policy forums,
as well as regional programmes. Events such as IST-Africa have an important
role to play in bringing together partners to identify opportunities for
co-operation and devise strategies on how to access the most appropriate
instruments to support such co-operations.

At this stage may I recognise the consistent support of the government of
Finland for promoting ICT partnerships for Africa. Not only have our Finnish
and other international friends also provided support for the organisation of
this conference, but within South Africa and other African countries such as
Mozambique, rich and promising bilateral ICT co-operation programmes are being
developed. Our continent can only benefit from engagement with the
international best practice in ICT and we are indeed most grateful for such
commitment to our co-operation.

In the third and final part of my address this morning, allow me to focus on
how African-European co-operation should best be advanced. When speaking on
African-European co-operation it would be amiss not to point to the close,
historical links between Europe and Africa which should and could provide a
foundation for concerted information society technologies partnerships.

A prime focus of IST-Africa is of course the consideration of the
preparations for the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). It is vital that we
collectively seek to use this unique opportunity for dialogue and consultation
to devise strategies which will ensure optimal African participation in the ICT
activities of the FP7.

It is equally important to bear in mind that such international co-operation
does not only significantly contribute to enriching the global knowledge pool
but by strengthening the developing countries’ own knowledge generation
capacities, also becomes a key enabler for sustainable development. It
certainly merits our collective investment to ensure that the international
co-operation agenda of the FP7 is optimally implemented.

Although the results of the African participation in the IST activities of
the Sixth Framework Programme had been disappointing, I would like to urge the
research and technology organisations in Europe to exploit the unique
opportunities provided by the framework programme for mutually beneficial
collaboration with partners in the developing world.

Similarly, I would like to pledge that in Africa we will continue to make
the necessary national and regional investments to enable us to optimally
respond to these opportunities. These will include the strengthening of our
continent’s research networking capacities and their connection to high speed
international networks such as the European giant network.

We should emphasise the mutually beneficial nature of the proposed
partnership. The opportunities, challenges and threats of the 21st century
information society are global and can only be adequately addressed through
true global partnerships which span geographic, political and economic
divides.

We live in a world where the well-being of all people has never been so
closely interconnected. No society is able to enjoy safety and prosperity in
isolation from the global challenges facing our planet. International
collaboration and partnership is thus not only useful but indeed
imperative.

Information society technologies provide unique instruments for all the
citizens of the world to participate in shaping our future. Through the
formation of strategic and global partnerships, we also assist the world’s
transition to a new inclusive, equitable and sustainable information
society.

May I in closing congratulate the IST-Africa Consortium for organising this
first event, which I believe would create a platform for a series of
engagements in years to come.

I thank you

Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
3 May 2006
Source: Department of Science and Technology (http://www.dst.gov.za)