the below story landed in my mailbox. i want to highlight particularly:
"The stereotype of Africa as a non-competitive continent is simply not true," said John Page, chief economist for Africa at the World Bank. But across the continent, this potential is stymied by failures to make legal frameworks and trading processes less onerous for business, he added.
the full story below:
Industry’s bottom line on African innovationR&D investment will come when capacity is there, say leaders
Kenya, South Africa and Tunisia have the best innovation climates in Africa, say business leaders. But despite a steady upward trend in economic growth, the continent still does not cut the mustard to attract significant R&D investment from industry.
Data to this effect comes from a survey published at the World Economic Forum “Davos for Africa” meeting in Cape Town from 13 to 15 June. It captures the perceptions of leading business executives from a cross-section of firms operating in African countries.
Of the 29 countries surveyed, Tunisia receives the most consistently high rating for its innovation capacity. It is the only country to register in the top three in all nine categories pertaining to science and technology [see table via link to PDF below]. It also gets the top overall score.
Tunisia’s hegemony might come as a surprise, since South Africa holds the number one spot in more categories. But the Southern giant is let down by poor quality science education and a shortfall of scientists. This fate is shared by Kenya, although the second runner up also falls short on IP protection.
A North-South divide can also be discerned in the data, which forms part of the Forum’s African Competitiveness Report 2007. Northern Africa chalks up the highest scores in categories related to skills and human resources, while Sub-Saharan Africa does well on research quality and technology transfer.
“Africa is doing well in basic areas of competitiveness but needs to focus more on technological readiness and market efficiency to really jump-start competitiveness,” said Jennifer Blanke, senior economist with the World Economic Forum and one of the authors of the competitiveness report.
The report compares Africa’s four largest economies—South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria and Egypt—to the Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies, suggesting the “Sane” countries have the potential to be the drivers of African economic growth. As a result, the authors suggest, international investment in Africa should not only focus on the poorest, but also go into bolstering economies that are doing well.
“The stereotype of Africa as a non-competitive continent is simply not true,” said John Page, chief economist for Africa at the World Bank. But across the continent, this potential is stymied by failures to make legal frameworks and trading processes less onerous for business, he added.
Economic growth in Africa measured 5.5 percent in 2006 and is expected to exceed six percent in coming years. But while the continent is experiencing its highest growth rates for decades, the dream of competing with other growing economies for multinational R&D investment remains elusive.
The majority of the countries surveyed by the Forum report attain only the lowest stage of economic development, namely “factor driven”. A handful—Benin, Botswana, Libya, Namibia and Tunisia—are described as “T1-2 transition economies”, which means that they are moving between stage one and stage two, which is “efficiency driven”. Only South Africa and Mauritius manage to reach the latter, while none attain the third level: “innovation driven”.
And while a session on R&D in Cape Town heard business representatives say that “the door was obviously open” in terms of their investing in R&D in Africa, in practice the scientific and technological quality is simply lacking at this stage.
“The R&D investment will come when demonstrated capability is there,” said Kenneth Willett, vice president and managing director for Africa of computer hardware giant HP.
For more on the “Davos of Africa” click on the links below.
Other sites
Table to accompany article (PDF). On this (research-africa) site
More on the “Davos of Africa” - p.2. More on the “Davos of Africa” - p.20. More on the “Davos of Africa” - p.21.Labels: africa, innovation, south africa
stargazing
yesterday was a bit of an odd day. firstly, i swear i saw someone that i know. i was in london. upon first seeing this person there was that momentary recognition (i thought), but then, since the person (on the face of it) looked different appearance-wise, i said to myself "how could it be him. it´s impossible". so, i didn´t think about it again. there was another event, but i won´t elaborate on that now.
then, as i walk to marble arch to take the bus back to oxf, i swear i saw ashley judd. yes. but i am not one to intrude when i see well-known people. i don´t rush up and say "aren´t you so-and-so?". after all, if they are out in public just to be out shopping say, then i don´t think it´s okay for me to run over and intrude on what is a private moment/space (even if they are out in public).
later that evening i went to my first oxford union debate. there i saw
peter gabriel. no doubt that it was him. not really surprising to see him there either. and then when he spoke, his unmistakable voice confirmed what i had already known (i.e. that it was him). after the debate i´d wondered for a moment or so whether i should go over to him and say something. i didn´t want to go into gush-gush-you´re-such-a-wonderful-artist kind of thing. no.
it is that upon the death-in-detention of one of the (if not _the_) foremost black South African intellectuals,
Steve Biko, in 1977, Peter Gabriel wrote a song about and dedicated to Biko, titled "
Biko". i was way too young to have actual meaningful political memory of 1977, but i remember there was a wall over a canal in my neighbourhood scrawled with Biko´s name on it. it stayed there all through my childhood, which was surprising since the police station was not so far away, and i would have thought that they (the authorities) would have white-washed the graffiti, but they didn´t. Gabriel´s "Biko" song had been banned in South Africa throughout the apartheid era. eventually it was unbanned, and then some years ago during the first 46664 AIDS benefit concert (hosted by Nelson Mandela) in Green Point, Cape Town, i remember it as a great moment when Peter Gabriel came on stage to perform "Biko" _in_ South Africa. i remember thinking then, proudly, "wow, look how far we´ve come".
i do have a copy of the song. i´d bought the CD last year when in Madrid.
well, i wanted to thank Peter Gabriel somehow, for his writing the song, etc. but in the end, no he aprovechado del momento justo para hacerlo.
:-\
i will write later about the oxford debate, and also on the conference i had attended in london all day, titled "the rule of law and post-conflict states"
what was striking to me was the stark contrast between the seriousness of the engagement in the day´s conference, versus the near-ridicularization of the politics of oppression in the evening´s event. the reasons for which i will explain later.
for now, here´s the blurb from the
conference site:
“The Institute’s Annual Conference in 2007 will focus upon a single theme: the International Legal Issues Raised for Societies in Post–Conflict Situations.
The application of the international rule of law in the aftermath of civil and international conflicts – while vitally important in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierre Leone, East Timor, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – is by no means clear. Speakers will consider the obligations of occupying powers, economic reconstruction and trade, access of foreign investors to natural resource exploitation, war crimes trials, the relationship between human rights and the 1949 Geneva ‘Red Cross’ Conventions and the role of non state actors, particularly the United Nations, World Bank and the EU. A core question is whether treaty-based and customary international law provides an adequate response to the contemporary problems faced by States post–conflict where the objectives of key players may range from conserving prior rights to regime change.”
Labels: biko, politics, south africa, stars
freedom day, south africa
it is like one of those events, say a birthday of someone you know. in the run-up to the thing you know that it´s coming, and you tell people about it, but then the day in question, you forget. it is as if there is a disconnect between the date "27 april" and the event "birthday" or in this case "freedom day". (thanks to
hussein for reminding me what it is called (oops)). yes, it is freedom day in south africa. it is a holiday to celebrate the first democratic elections held 27 april 1994. as i´ve said, i didn´t forget the day and it´s significance, but somehow forgot that it was called "freedom day". i do remember it well, that 27 april 1994. there was a light rain, a drizzle, as it is called. but not really cold; only a bit chilly. i lived in the city, so walked to my nearest polling station which was the cape town civic centre. there was a long queue, but it didn´t really matter. the longer queue made things all the more pleasant in that it gave everyone an excuse to linger-longer. there was a buzz in the air, with people chit-chatting to whoever was ahead or behind them: the rainbow nation out in full colour, queueing excitedly to make their mark. that was a great morning. i remember what i felt on walking home that afternoon. and i probably looked a lot like... the cheshire cat (since i am in oxf, there must be an oxf reference (hahaha)).
oh, later the day was (only) slightly marred by reports of alleged voting irregularities in places, but it was difficult to discern if these were legit or merely the usual party-political bickering that occurs (what´s referred to as "crispación" in Spanish, and of which there has been a lot of of late in Spanish politics.).
so, it´s freedom day. happy freedom day to all my S. African compatriots!
---
some days are just one of those where you "don´t know your arse from your elbow", as my mom would say. well, she said that of other people, never about us, and for sure never about herself. there is the more colourful afrikaans semantic equivalent, which is "rigtingbefok". afrikaans is a beautiful language -- people don´t always seem to understand that i have no hard feelings about having been forced to learn it.
well, thinking about my mom, i thought about how one knew that she was angry. it was always rather subtle. she had no need for harsh words. it was more in the tone. you knew you had pushed your luck when she stopped to look at you with those green eyes of hers, and said "i´ll box your ears". or another indication was when she would run through the names of siblings before she got to yours. and at that, there aren´t many siblings, so the list was not a long one. but it rang "Sean, Gail, Jennifer!", in that order, from oldest to youngest. then you knew she meant business.
and i write in the past tense because these are things from my childhood. it´s been a long time since i´ve experienced this kind of treatment from her. these days, when i am able to visit, the best thing is when she makes me a scrambled-egg-and-onion sandwich, and a cup of tea. it´s that simple.
but so, i was remembering these things on this freedom day.
Labels: freedom day, recuerdos, south africa
