- For policies to serve the purpose for which they are designed, there must be a framework for their implementation, which needs to be guided by some evidence.
- Institutionalizing policies for science technology and development in Africa is the most challenging task
- Scientists need to understand and appreciate the nuances of policy-making processes, which vary in different contexts
These are some of the major discussion points that emerged from a recently concluded three-day workshop dubbed: “Science Technology and Innovation Policy Training for Africa.” The workshop brought together about 32 representatives from the Science Granting Councils (SGCs) involved in the Science Granting Council initiative. The countries represented were: Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya, Ethiopia, Namibia, Ghana, Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Botswana, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, and Cote d’Ivoire.
Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) are fundamental for the economic and social development of any country. Dr. Hezron Makundi from STIPRO recommended that African governments should prioritize financing of health and agricultural research.
“We take Science Technology and Innovation as our daily bread.” Said Professor Tom Ogada, Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) as he welcomed the workshop participants.
“If it is not happening, it is not a policy but a mindset,” said Dr. Bitrina Diyamett from the Science Technology and Innovation Policy Research Organization (STIPRO) who emphasized that we must see some results following policy formulation for us to know that it has undergone a successful implementation process.
The workshop revealed that in most of the countries, STI is under the umbrella of a particular ministry, mostly the Ministry of higher education in the countries. For instance, in Kenya STI is under the Ministry of Higher Education; Ghana has it under the Ministry of Environment whereas Zambia and Mozambique have it under the same ministry as Kenya.
However, participants at the workshop expressed the need to establish a stand-alone Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation in the countries for a more significant impact. “Science technology and innovation (STI) should not be based in one ministry, because this could limit its impact and influence on the wide range of STI activities in the country” added Kalisa, a participant from Rwanda.
The highly participatory workshop featured cross learning of different policy-making processes in different countries.
Participants noted that successful implementation of evidence-based policies for enhanced STI highly depends on several factors including; close collaboration and coordination of involved actors (and organizations), identification of evidence gaps, clear implementation framework, political goodwill, and financial support.
There was a resounding consensus from the workshop participants on the need to understand and appreciate the different components of policy-making processes for successful evidence-based policy formulation and implementation. Dr. Gussai Sheikhedin from STIPRO reiterated that research plays a fundamental role in the policy implementation process. He also pointed out the importance of communication and engagement between scientists and policymakers.
For over two decades, the concept of innovation systems has received considerable attention as a key approach in enhancing agricultural development. In a newly published book, innovation systems approach is acclaimed as an effective strategy for supporting smallholders. One of the chapters considers how institutional arrangements influence interactive learning among actors in an innovation system. The chapter is based on a case study of the floriculture industry in Kenya and focuses on how knowledge generation and sharing contributes to learning, innovation and capability building amongst farmers.
Focusing on key actors as “sources of knowledge” for farmers and farmers’ choices for such actors as “collaborators in research and development”, the study sought to investigate how these preferences influenced farmers’ capabilities to respond to challenges and changes in their contexts. It further investigated how institutional factors and organizational culture influenced the interaction and collaborations amongst the different actors. The paper outlines how farmers can organize themselves to demand for research services in a way that makes universities and research and development institutes respond. It further articulates new institutional arrangements that will enable R&D actors to respond to farmers’ requests.
The chapter, by Maurice Bolo from the Scinnovent Centre, concludes that institutional factors such as organizational culture play a huge role in shaping the tendency of the individual actors within an organization to interact with other actors within the wider innovation system. Different cultures are distinguished, depending on the nature of the organization’s activities and interests. For instance, Bolo notes that non-governmental organizations (NGO) demonstrated a ‘clan culture’ where teamwork and collaborations is highly valued; Input suppliers were characterized by a ‘market culture’ and were more results-oriented to winning market share and penetrating new markets while universities and public research institutes are still dominated by a ‘hierarchical culture’ that undermines their responsiveness to ad hoc client demands.
Download the book containing this chapter here.
Kenya’s development blueprint (Vision 2030) acknowledges that science, technology and innovation (STI) plays a fundamental role in a modern economy, with knowledge at the center of boosting economic growth and global competitiveness. Highlighting the need for effective exploitation of knowledge, the strategy further elucidates that an effective innovation system which can tap into knowledge, and incorporate and adapt it to local needs to create new knowledge and appropriate technology is critical. The innovation system is described here as a network of research centres, universities, think tanks, private enterprises and community groups.
With research institutes and universities at the centre of knowledge generation and recreation, hence key in engineering Kenya’s transition to a knowledge-based economy, the central question remains; to what extent are they contributing to intellectual property and entrepreneurship?
A study by The Scinnovent Centre sought to investigate the contribution of Kenyan universities and public research institutes to industrial property (IP) rights applications and grants for the period 1990 – 2013. The analysis, covered different types of IP rights including patents, utility models and industrial designs by individual universities and public research institutes, including those filed and/or granted in partnerships with other actors.
The study findings revealed that contrary to the popular expectation that universities and public research institutes will engineer Kenya’s transition to the knowledge-based economy while steering the rapid transition to middle income status espoused in the country’s Vision 2030, their performance is dismal and does not inspire the confidence assumed in the Vision 2030 and the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policy (2008). The private sector and individual investors outperform them in every IP segment.
While the Vision 2030 outlines various strategies for promoting STI, among them increased funding for basic and applied research to intensify innovation, these findings reveals that the panacea may not just lie in increased funding.
In a recently published policy brief based on the findings, the study recommends two options that could stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship from these knowledge-based institutions:
i) Competitive ranking of universities and
(ii) Instituting a performance-based research funding model as a means of stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship.
The study concluded that current university ranking based on Webometrics and Performance Contracting in the Civil Service provide useful lessons and experiences, that should be modified and improved towards a performance-based research funding model for universities and public research institutes.
The study further explored the experiences of other countries in performance-based research funding, and explains how such a funding model may be implemented in Kenya. It sets out the rationale for such a funding model, highlights its merits and demerits, assesses the impacts and explores whether such a system fits within Kenya’s context.
Download the policy brief here
The National Science Week held annually, is organized and hosted by the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation in Kenya (NACOSTI). This year’s event themed ‘the role of science, technology and innovation in the Post- 2015 development agenda’ was held on 11 to 15 May 2015 at the University of Nairobi. The Director, Scinnovent Centre, delivered a keynote presentation under sub-theme 5 on knowledge management and technology transfer.
In his presentation, Dr. Bolo explained the changing role of universities in national development and the resultant pressures of transitioning to knowledge based economy and achieving the third mission, recognized as innovation. His presentation focused on the results from a study carried out by the Scinnovent Centre to explore the factors that enable or constrain the translation of public sector research outputs into commercial products.
According to a paper published by the centre, our universities and PRIs performance is dismal, at least judging by their contribution to Industrial Property (IP) registration in Kenya. For the past 23 years, these institutions have contributed only 5.7%, 9.9% and 0.3% to the national granted patents, utility models and industrial designs respectively. The presentation further revealed that the private sector preferred to use their suppliers, clients, consultants and competitors as their market-sources of information.
Dr. Bolo proposed change in approaches, methods and organization to foster the positioning of our PRIs to achieve their third mission. This entails a synergy of activities that include licensing IP, running joint R&D projects, establishment of Technology Transfer Offices (TTOS), student and staff engagement in technology transfer, promotion of social innovation, creation of start-ups and spin offs, formulation of action plans and quality assurance among others.
The Scinnovent Centre, has furthered its agenda in bridging the gap between research and practice, by developing a framework for enhancing commercialization and strengthening linkages with the private sector. This work funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC), is in collaboration with NACOSTI and Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) Rwanda. It entails a self assessment tool, action plan, community of practice and resource centre and will be available in online, offline and print versions.
The role of intellectual property protection in fostering innovation cannot be over-emphasized. Protection of ideas enables innovators to reap the full benefits of their inventions and provide a mechanism of turning knowledge from a “public good” to a “private good” that can be traded and subjected to market forces. Industrial property rights refer to a sub-set of intellectual property rights that covers patents, utility models, industrial designs and trade/service marks. A recent study by the Scinnovent Centre sought to investigate the industrial property landscape in Kenya with a view to answering the following questions:
- Where do the inventions come from? Who owns the industrial property protected in Kenya?
- How does foreign (international) applicants compare with national (domestic) applications?
- In which economic sectors are the most IP applications registered?
- What are the key challenges/bottlenecks faced by the applicants?
Findings of this study show that ‘Kenya is not yet there’ in terms of harnessing its intellectual capital, fostering innovations, and commercializing its research products as evidenced by the low rate of applications and grants for industrial property rights. Even though Kenya has seen a steady growth in terms of patent applications and grants, its contribution is still negligible, compared to the worldwide patent applications.
- 2,388 patents were filed in the period 1990 – 2013
- More than half of patents applications were filed by companies
- Partnerships between individuals filing the highest number of applications
The World Intellectual Property Indicators report 2013 (WIPO, 2013) records that the patent applications worldwide stood at 2.35 million in 2012, and Kenya’s contribution to this was only 0.011 percent. In addition to this low application for patents, this report reveals that of all the patent applications, more than 70% were not granted.
While both foreigners and locals account for almost equal shares of applications, foreigners are almost 3 times more likely to be successful in their applications. More than 70% of the patents have been granted to foreign applicants. The high rejection rates of the national applications has been attributed to a number of factors including: communication challenges between Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) and the applicants; failure to submit required fees; failure to meet the set criteria; poor drafting and withdrawal of the application by the applicants.
- Most patents granted to agriculture, forestry and fishing
- Mining and quarrying granted the least
The low rate of industrial property protection is viewed as one of the hindrances to commercialization of research products and harnessing innovation. Where inventors do not protect their ideas, they have little control over the same, which leaves them vulnerable to imitation, infringement and piracy.
What options to facilitate protection of industrial property in Kenya?
While acknowledging the steps being taken by the government in attempts to foster innovation, including the enactment of the STI Act (2013) and the creation of the Kenya National Innovation Agency (KENIA) with a mandate to develop and manage Kenya’s national innovation system, the study recommends a set of actions to enhance the realization of benefits from the intellectual property rights protection including:
- Intensive education and awareness on the criteria for protection under the various categories (patents, utility models and industrial designs) .
- Provide institutional support for local applicants.
- Provide financial support for local inventors obtain IP protection.
- Promote partnerships and collaborations.
- Promote competitive ranking in universities and include IP applications/grants (patents, utility models and industrial designs) as part of the evaluation criteria
- Include IP in the staff recruitment and promotion criteria for university and research institutes’ staff
Download the whole paper here
Download a simplified info-graph of the facts, figures and trends in the industrial property landscape in Kenya
To support innovation for development, governments need to fast-track the establishment of venture capital to fund innovation and provide tax credits for investments in research and development. This one of the recommendations from a paper recently published by The Scinnovent Centre.
In a new study, the Scinnovent Centre sought to interrogate the challenges facing innovators in Kenya with a view to making recommendations to the various actors within the national innovation system on the various kinds of support required to ensure Kenyan innovators meet their full potential. Targeted at exhibiting innovators during the Annual Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Conference and National Science Week held on 19 to 23 May 2014 at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) the survey was conducted to capture their views on a range of issues including intellectual property rights; financing; market access; receptivity of the market to local innovation; policy support; role of the private sector and role of universities and other training institutions.
The paper further recommends the need for government to (ii) spearhead preferential purchasing of locally manufactured products through its procurement policies (iii) entrench technology and business incubation centres in all the technical training facilities and (iv) enhance awareness, sensitization, and support for intellectual property rights protection.
Download the paper: Stuck on the road to the market: Why Kenya suffers from stunted innovations
One of the main objectives of the Scinnovent Centre is on strengthening skills and shaping attitudes. Recognizing that for actors to remain competitive they need to constantly learn new skills and update their knowledge bases, the training and capacity building programmes addresses this objective.
These training courses are developed through a three – stage process which includes:
- Identifying constraints facing the end-users, young professionals and decision-makers through an interactive and participatory process
- Seeking solutions for these constraints in collaboration with both national and international partners
- Providing advice, training and tailored made products and services that solve the identified constraints.
The Centre has designed several training programmes and has previously organized and conducted trainings for different stakeholders.
Pushing forward this agenda, the Scinnovent Centre conducted a training workshop for University researchers on 28 October to 1 November 2014 at the Bomma Inn in Eldoret. The training was organized by the College of Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at Moi University for three days, and focused on ‘grant writing and effective communication with policy makers’. Targeted at senior researchers and post graduate students at the Institute, the objective of the workshop was to enhance their capacity and skills to produce high quality proposals as well as enhance their proficiency in effective communication with policy makers.
Expected outcomes from the training
The training was expected to equip the participants with skills to:
- Apply the principles and strategies for effective communication with policy makers to inform and influence planning, policy making and implementation of public health interventions
- Apply the principles and innovative strategies to design and write proposals with higher funding potential in health system research, one-health, monitoring and evaluation of programmes relevant to public health
- Develop competencies in developing collaborative grants involving public and private stakeholders
- Strengthen institutional approaches to sustainable engagement of stakeholders including the Ministry of Health, for effective dissemination of study findings
- Mentor junior faculty and public health students in grant writing and experiential approaches for packaging and disseminating research products to appropriate audiences
- Determine the next steps towards online implementation of health systems research and Monitoring and Evaluation curricula
Dr. Maurice Bolo, Director, the Scinnovent Centre was the lead facilitator for the session on ‘effective communication with policy makers’. Using an approach that emphasized on practical participation of the workshop participants, Dr. Bolo engaged them in a step by step process of producing a policy brief and how to effectively communicate these for policy influence. Based on these steps, the participants engaged in plenary presentations of their key policy messages from their research of choice.
Dr. J.P.R Ochieng’ from the Consortium of National Health Research (CNHR) took the lead in facilitating the session on ‘producing quality research proposals with higher funding potential’.
On 15 to 17 October 2014, Dr. Maurice Bolo, the Director Scinnovent Centre was in the Netherlands to participate in an international forum on ‘Unleashing Science, Technology and Innovation for Food and Nutrition Security’. With emphasis on Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific region, the event which attracted policy makers, senior scientists, innovators, scholars and private sector representatives was organized by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA).
Delivering a presentation on ‘enhancing commercialization of research from universities and public research institutes’, Dr. Bolo emphasized on the need for governments to rethink the policy paradigms around research commercialization for enhanced uptake of research and technology from universities and public research institutes. The presentation based on findings from an ongoing research project implemented by the Scinnovent Centre with support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) revealed that only 1.6% of patents and 10% of utility models filed in Kenya came from public universities. Additionally, it points out that only about 18% of firms in Kenya highly use universities and public research institutes as sources of innovation while 35% of these firms do not.
Which way for enhanced commercialization of research and innovation?
In his conclusion, Dr. Bolo emphasized that major changes need to occur for enhanced commercialization of innovations in universities and public research institutes.
- Convergence of modern and indigenous science
- Methodological change- this includes participation, contribution, role sharing and benefit sharing with universities.
- Organizational change- including reward structure and incentive scheme
- Personal change- scientists need to also develop an entrepreneurial mindset and acquire such skills
The Scinnovent Centre, African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum (ABSF), and The National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) jointly organized an event to commemorate this year’s African Scientific Revival Day. Held on 30th June 2014 at the National Agricultural Research Laboratories (NARL), housed at Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), the theme for this year’s event was ‘celebrating advances of biotechnology for food and nutrition security in Kenya’.
The Africa Scientific Revival day was dedicated during the 46th Ministerial Conference of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The objective of the celebration was among others, to understand biotechnology in its entirety and how it has helped in fighting food and nutrition insecurity in Kenya. The forum provided an opportunity to demonstrate the achievements Kenya has recorded in the field of biotechnology research and application and attracted participation from researchers, private sector actors, government agencies, universities/research institutes, farmers, the youth, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and high schools involved in biotechnology in the country.
The event was opened by Dr. Maurice Bolo, the Director The Scinnovent Centre who gave a key note address and was followed by a plenary session to discuss whether biotechnology has worked for Kenya.
The event further saw the launch of a monitoring and evaluation framework on biosafety which was presented by Kennedy Oyugi, Programmes Officer- ABSF. The youth were strongly represented during this event, with Asha Bakari presenting the youth involvement strategy in biotechnology communication through the Kenya Youth Biotechnology Network. Subsequently, an overview of Kenya Biotechnology Information Centre (KEBIC) website was presented by Samuel Njenga.
While making her introductory statement, farmers’ representative Mrs. Beatrice Mwaura gave her story of how successful she had been in agriculture through tissue culture banana farming. She said the tissue culture banana matures after only 9 months as opposed to conventional banana which takes between one and one and a half years to mature. They harvest all year round regardless of the weather conditions since they only need to use manure from cattle, pigs and chicken which is readily available. She said that before the onset of tissue culture banana, she was not able to pay for her children’s school fees which she currently pays much more comfortably from the proceeds of banana farming.
In an exclusive interview with Victor from The Scinnovent Centre, Mrs. Beatrice Mwaura, a farmer and a grader at Sabasaba Agribusiness Co-operative Society in Murang’a County said that their society was started in 2004 currently boasts of 120 members. She said the society offered easy market access for the farmers involved in tissue culture banana and had employed a manager who was charged with marketing the member’s products. The farmers produce included banana and its products such as flour, crisps, and banana paste used as jam which they sell through the society.
Mrs. Mwaura said that the knowledge was got from Africa Harvest that carried out an awareness campaign on the increasing demand for banana and its products, sold to them the first cultivars and trained them on how to develop the plants. A single farmer can sell up to 500 kilograms per month at a cost of Kshs. 16 per kilo. The main challenge they face is inadequate fertilizers and sometimes water. This could be solved by rearing cattle and using the dung as organic fertilizer. She urges other farmers to embrace tissue culture banana as it gives a better alternative to maize and other crop farming.
From these success stories, it is very imperative for all the stakeholders to continue supporting the local farmers by lowering the costs of getting cultivars and training the farmers on the best ways to optimize their produce and income. The scientists should therefore come up with techniques of using tissue culture in other plants and crops to diversify the agricultural sector. I urge all the stakeholders in biotechnology to always mark this day since it gives a platform for sharing experiences which could be oblivious to other players in the agricultural biotechnology sector.
The culmination of the event was through a session that involved presentation of awards to the top students from Hospital Hill High School who had participated in a science competition, organized by The Scinnovent Centre on the theme ‘Science and Technology as the answer to hunger and malnutrition in Kenya’.
View photos here
You can download the presentations here:
Biotechnology and Biosciences Programme in the Medium Term Plan II (2013-2017) of the Kenya Vision 2030
Engaging youth in bioaware through KYBNET
Science & Technology Role in Accelerated Socio- Economic Achievement of Vision 2030
This post was contributed by Calvince Onyango of the Scinnovent Centre
The Scinnovent Centre conducted a two-week e-consultation survey between 5th June 2014 and 20th June 2014. The consultation which focused on the role of biotechnology in enhancing food and nutrition security in Africa, looked into the current state of innovations, policies and markets. We specifically sought to highlight the successes and achievements that have resulted from biotechnology applications and in effect celebrate the strides Africa has made so far in harnessing and benefiting from this technology. the objective of the e-consultation was to draw attention to the main developments in research, technology and innovation currently being applied in Africa, and the policies that have created a conducive environment for their development. In addition to that, the Scinnovent Centre sought information on the current markets and opportunities for regional trade.
The Scinnovent Centre’s Facebook page was used as the central channel of communication with the participants. In an effort to easily lead traffic to the survey, a link was provided via Facebook and a tab labelled ‘ASRD Survey’ was embedded on the website. As a regular reminder to the online community to participate in the survey, a series of biotechnology questions was periodically posted, to prompt readers to visit the site and take part in the survey.
For purposes of our report, we ensured that personal details were obligatory. The biotechnology questions conversely, were optional, short and precise to allow our respondents to answer questions they had answers to, within the shortest time possible. These questions included the following:
- The kind of biotechnology innovations (including technologies, products, processes, services etc) that have been used/applied for enhancing food and nutrition security in Africa
- The innovative research projects/activities which are currently on going in Africa (including in the universities, public research institutes, private companies, NGOs, multinational firms etc) and how are they likely to impact on food and nutrition security in Africa
- Situations where the government policies and regulations have led to successful deployment of biotechnology in Africa
- Areas where biotechnology stakeholders (whether from academia, NGOs, private sector, consumers etc) have successfully influenced government policies and regulations in support of biotechnology
- Cases where trading in biotechnology products have led to increased market access, better prices, and cheaper inputs
- The cases of cross-national trade in biotechnology products in Africa, and determine whether they have been quantified or studied
- The key issues that African policymakers and regulatory agencies should address in order to enhance the potential for biotechnology to better contribute to food and nutrition security in the continent
A total of 41 respondents from 17 different nations participated in the survey. the nations represented included Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Switzerland, Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom and Zimbabwe.
From the survey, it was established that there are various interesting research and innovations going on in the continent. However, the continent unfortunately lacks adequate policies and regulations to support biotechnology even as countries such as South Africa are experiencing increased farmer profits due to biotechnology. Lack of favorable policies has led to limited cross-national trade in biotechnology food products, which has in turn led to most of the projects stalling at the research stage.
On 3rd September 2014, the Scinnovent Centre attended a symposium on the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) ban in Kenya to validate a white paper on Kenya’s scientific community position on GMOs. Represneted by Dr. Maurice Bolo and Vivian Achieng, the Scinnovent Centre sought to understand the experts’ opinion on the role biotechnology plays in food and nutrition security in Africa. According to these experts from both the academic and research institutions in Kenya, biotechnology can certainly contribute to food security by raising farmers’ yields and fight malnutrition by increasing nutrient contents of basic foods. Ongoing projects to help achieve a food secure continent include the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), which aims to develop drought-tolerant and insect-resistant maize in several countries in the continent as well as bio-fortified sorghum and banana which will be resistant to banana bacterial wilt.
Evidently, Africa is sitting on the potential positive effects of biotechnology in terms of food and nutrition security as well as expansion of trade opportunities. Focus should be on formulating complimentary policies in biotechnology based on evidence to support this sub-sector of the economy.
