ASTII

What is on this page?

On this page you will find information on NEPAD's work on the African Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (ASTII) programme, including information on progress to date.

What is the African Science, technology and Innovation Indicators (ASTII) programme?

Science, technology and innovation (STI) indicators are critical in monitoring Africa's scientific and technological development. These indicators are useful for formulating, adjusting and implementing technology and innovation policies and strategies. Indicators can also be used to monitor global technological trends, conduct foresight exercises, and determine specific areas of investment.

At the first African Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology (AMCOST I), countries committed themselves to developing and adopting a common sets of indicators.

The general objective of NEPAD's work on ASTII is to build Africa's capacity to develop and use STI indicators.

More specifically the agency aims to:

• Develop and promote the adoption of internationally compatible STI indicators;
• Build human and institutional capacities for STI indicators and related surveys;
• Enable African countries to participate in international programmes for STI indicators; and
• Inform African countries on the state of STI in Africa.

What's happening in the programme?

NEPAD's STI project has a number of key projects:

Project 1: Development and adoption of African common science, technology and innovation indicators
While indicators are useful in assessing science and technology development on the continent they are more useful if they can also allow for comparisons with other countries in Africa. To do this there has to be general agreement among countries on definitions, statistics, indicators and data collection processes. NEPAD has established an experts' working group to prepare the necessary documentation with guidelines for these. This will provide the foundation for a continent-wide process to develop common indicators.

On the strength of this process the project will:

• Publish and widely disseminate an African STI Indicators Manual.
• Identify and establish competent national authorities for STI indicators.

• Establish formal relations with OECD and other regional STI indicators platforms and programmes.

• Establish an inter-governmental committee of national experts on STI indicators to agree upon common standards, including their integration into the African Peer Review Mechanism.

Project 2: Establishing an African STI Observatory
To ensure that STI indicators and information gathering as well as collation, compilation and validation are standardised, it is proposed that an African Observatory of Science, Technology and Innovation (AOSTI) be created. This body would also co-ordinate the designated STI national authorities. The proposed observatory will be the African equivalent to co-ordinating bodies such as the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry.

An important role for the observatory will be to manage the collection of statistics on science, technology and innovation from African countries. It will also build capacity through the provision of training, sample survey instruments, case study templates, as well as practical advice on the development of country profiles, indicator reports, and the use of indicators in evidence-based policy. It will assure uniformity in the methodologies.

The observatory will be tasked with identifying and acquiring existing primary data internationally and developing relevant indicators.

What progress has been made so far?

A number of key objectives have been achieved in these two projects:

• ASTII Project-1: The establishment of national focal points by ministerial or joint decrees;
• ASTII Project-1: Institutionalisation at country level of the budget line;
• ASTII Project-2: The establishment of the African Observatory for Science, Technology and Innovation in Equatorial Guinea is in progress.
• First round of R&D and Innovation surveys with 19 countries have been finalised and the results will be released in the African Innovation Outlook.

Who is leading the programme?

Dr. Towela Nyirenda Jere, PhD

Email: TowelaN@nepad.org
Tel: +27 (0) 12 841 4661

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