We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone. – President John F Kennedy
In a previous post I urged a rethinking of Africa’s industrialisation path, that through a failure of imagination we have tried to industrialise Africa with policies that do not fit its own context. Part of that lack of imagination has been the lack of emphasis put on science in the pursuit of development in Africa. Industrialisation has always been accompanied by and often led by the growth and advance of science and technology. When Britain became the first industrial powerhouse it was on the back of scientific, engineering and technological advances in the steam engine, mechanisation and metallurgy. The industrial revolutions of the 20th century was driven by scientific discovery and advances in electricity, transportation, communications and computing, and it is no accident that many of them came out of the nation that invested the most in science, the USA. The East Asian tigers and China have all placed heavy emphasis and invested significantly in building and advancing their own scientific and technological capacities, because they know it is a key driver of industrialisation.
If Africa is to develop, industrialise and competently face the challenges of the 21st century then we need African science to flourish. This will require African policy makers to recognise the importance of science, invest in it, and to set and chase ambitious goals.
Science and Industrialisation – inseparable bedfellows
Science, technology and industrialisation are intimately linked. In fact, one could go so far as to say that without scientific advances and new technologies, industrialisation around the world may have been very different or not happened at all. Any study of the first industrial revolution (roughly 1760-1840) cannot ignore the impacts of the technological advances in iron and chemical manufacturing, the harnessing of steam and mechanisation. The second industrial revolution (1870-1914) was characterised by advances in steel, rail transport, telecommunications, electricity and the advent of applied science (the application of existing scientific knowledge to practical applications). The third industrial revolution (1960- today), or digital revolution is based on the advancement of technology from analogue electronic to digital devices, this was enabled by advances in materials science, quantum mechanics and mathematics. Now, according to some[1], the fourth industrial revolution is upon us and it will be marked by emerging science technologies such as AI, biotechnology and 3D printing.
If Africa is to develop and industrialise it must be a participant not just a recipient of the scientific revolutions taking place elsewhere. The rising powers of East Asia did this in the 1950s and 60s and invested heavily (and continue to do so) in building scientific and technological capacity just as their western counterparts had done over the preceding century. A great example of this is China. In 1977 China recognised Science and Technology as one of the four modernisations alongside agriculture, industry and national defence. And in the 1990’s deployed a series of policies such as increased funding, setting up an innovation infrastructure, increasing the societal importance of science and forcing technology transfer from foreign investors to achieve its goal of making China a global science and technology leader. China today is a world leader in areas such as hi-tech manufacturing, renewable energy and infrastructure. Like China, African governments and policymakers must also recognise the importance of science and technology in development, that industrialisation is not just about factories, railways and trade. If Africa places as much emphasis on building scientific capacity as it does on infrastructure, trade or attracting FDI the continent would take the first step to building the sustainable growth that it seeks.
Walking the talk – investing in African science
Not only must science and technology be recognised as being as important as infrastructure it must get a comparable level of funding. There are three key ways of doing so. Investing in people, investing in scientific infrastructure and technology transfer. China has a target of investing 2.5% of GDP in scientific and technological research and development, and there is no reason why Africa cannot have a similar science and technology investment goal.
Investing in people
Investing in people is simple, it means funding STEM education at all levels (primary, secondary, university and post-graduate) to the level that is necessary to have the scientifically and technologically literate population able to work in a digitally driven economy and produce the scientists, engineers and mathematicians the continent needs at the foundation of its economy. In addition, there are a number of African scientists, mathematicians, and engineers who reside, teach and work outside the continent, kickstarting Africa’s scientific revolution would be easier if they were tempted back to Africa’s scientific agencies, research institutes and universities. This won’t be cheap, syllabuses will need to be updated, teachers trained, scholarships and bursaries funded, and the scientific diaspora given comparable salaries to what they can get elsewhere. However, in my view it is well worth the investment. Africa desperately lacks scientific capacity and that threatens its long term development, investing in human capital will provide a viable foundation for Africa’s future.
Invest in the infrastructure of science
Its one thing to have scientists, but that’s useless if the infrastructure doesn’t exist for them to thrive. By scientific infrastructure I don’t just mean giving greater funding to science departments at universities but also funding the myriad of research institutes, laboratories and agencies and technology parks that have been set up over the years. This also includes the sharing of science, scientific journals and conferences, which are crucial to the dissemination and progression of research and Africa has far too few of them, limiting the visibility and impact of African science. Putting money behind initiatives such as the Scientific African will help remedy this.
Technology transfer
Technology transfer is the idea that foreign investors should as part of their investments transfer some of the technical knowledge and skills which they have to the country in which they are investing. For Africa this would involve giving foreign companies incentives for technology transfer and moving R&D to the continent (such as tax breaks or subsidies), requiring the employment and training of locals in their operations and encouraging investors to enter into joint ventures with African companies when they invest in the continent. This will help insure that FDI into the continent doesn’t just build roads, power stations and factories, but also builds the people and skills that will develop the capacity for Africans to do these things themselves.
Let’s go to the moon
In 1961 President Kennedy asked the US congress to commit to a program to landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. At that point in time, the USA had barely been able to put a man in space, going to the moon was barely conceivable, the technology and expertise didn’t exist, yet in July 1969 Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the moon. As the economist Mariana Mazzucato outlines in her new book ‘The Value of Everything’, going to the moon required the collaboration and coordination of a variety of different actors, from the aerospace sector to design and build the spacecraft, to the computer industry to invent computers that could run it, to the textiles sector to come up with suits that could walk on the moon. This not only resulted in the achievement of the mission of landing a man on the moon, it led to scientific and technological advances that have changed the world, such as modern computers with integrated silicon chips and multitasking software which are descended from the Apollo Guidance Computer where they were first developed and utilised.
The lesson Africa can learn from this, was that all these achievements came from having a singular focus on a specific challenge (going to the moon) and solving the problems it presented collaboratively between the private and public sectors. Today Africa faces a myriad of challenges, many of which such as climate change, or eradicating aids, or ending hunger contain multiple problems and require collaboration and problem solving between and within multiple sectors and significant funding, which only government can provide. What if we took a leaf from the moon-shot and African Governments funded a challenge. A challenge around which society can coalesce and benefit from as whole such building a green economy or ending hunger. Which like the moon mission could be broken down into various smaller problem-solving projects which would require investment in Science and Technology, would be coordinated by scientists, businesses, civil society, government departments and whole sectors from around the continent and help foster a sense of social cohesion through a goal that the majority of people believed in. I firmly believe if we are to confront and solve the challenges Africa faces in the 21st century we need to be ambitious, we need to think outside the box, focusing on and working collaboratively towards solving the big issues is a perfect way to do this, Africa should go to the moon.
[1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/what-is-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/