Science and Technology Parks: an Overview of the Ongoing Initiatives in Africa

African Journal of Political Science and International Relations Vol. 3 (5), pp. 208-223, May 2009 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJPSIR ISSN 1996‐0832 © 2009 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Science and technology parks: An overview of the ongoing initiatives in Africa Raymond Tavares Scuola Superiore di Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento Sant’Anna Laboratorio Management e Innovazione. Piazza Martiri della Libertà, 33 – 56127 Pisa, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]. www.techbridge.sssup.it. Tel.: +39050883833. Accepted 12 May, 2009 The aim of our study is to review the readiness of selected African countries to invest in Science and Technology Parks and manage them effectively. This is justified by the fact that the number of ongoing or foreseen projects aiming at the establishment of Science Parks is growing on one side. On another side, we observe simultaneously a persisting lack of critical scientific mass for knowledge production and the limited cases of success with regard to those which have been already established. Our study will also raise a provocative query or concern about possible alternative forms of infrastructure that can be most effective and appropriate to support the promotion of technologies and innovations in African countries. Key words: Science park, technology park, Africa, knowledge society, high technology readiness. INTRODUCTION The concept of Science and Technology Park (STP) is di- The first science and technology park was created on ffused in industrialized countries as well as in Asian the campus of Stanford University more that 50 year ago. emerging states. In those countries, STPs are usually This is the base of the success of the Silicon Valley well competing with universities for scientific invention and ta- know today for its technological, financial, educational lent; and they still remain a “hot issue” for competitive- and research based capacities (Pahlavan, 2007) ness. STPs remain attractive places for dynamic national and According to the International Association of Science international companies. For instance, the Hsinchu Parks (IASP, 2002), a science park is an organization Science Park in Taiwan is now home to several of Tai- managed by specialized professionals, whose main aim wan’s giant computer and semiconductor companies. Re- is to increase the wealth of its community by promoting cent economic literature confirms the idea that STPs are the culture of innovation and the competitiveness of its the most challenging places to run innovative knowledge associated businesses and knowledge-based institutions. based activities. To enable these goals to be met, a science park stimu- As in other parts of the world, the STP concept has sei- lates and manages the flow of knowledge and technology zed the imagination of African public policy makers. The amongst universities, R and D institutions, companies STP concept is more and more a challenging target for and markets; it facilitates the creation and growth of inno- African governments as well as nongovernmental organi- vation-based companies through incubation and spin-off zations. According to Mr. Neville Comins, CEO of The processes; and provides other value-added services to- Innovation Hub - Africa's first fully accredited. Science gether with high quality space and facilities. Park, "Building a culture of technology and entrepreneur- Tavares 209 ship appears to be one of the challenges facing many de- OVERVIEW OF THE STP DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA veloping economies. Science Parks can make a mean- ingful contribution to addressing this”. as well as non- The African need for science and technology develop- governmental organizations. This is an attempt to inte- ment is increasing as far as the digital divide between grate technology into the development process of African Africa and the rest of the world is worsening. countries. STPs seem to be the proper stop gap solution for most New technologies applications are promising in various developing and emerging countries. Especially, Western fields of development in Africa. They are the proper res- STPs that have had notable success have influenced ponses to the various challenges the continent is facing developing countries to adopt the “park model” as a vehi- nowadays. For instance the development and deploy- cle for technology-based economic growth and development of low-carbon technologies could be effective solu- ment (Vaidyanathan, 2007). The on-going STP initiatives tions to climate change problems of the continent. Infor- in Africa are attempting to attract foreign investments and mation and Communication Technologies (ICT) have to promote the growth of knowledge-based industries. enabled appropriate solutions to health problems of se- Proper Research and Development (R and D) activities lected rural areas in Africa. Biotechnologies solutions to seem to be marginal and secondary as the cross-fertili- the food shortage and poverty alleviation in certain Afri- zation of ideas between domestic and foreign firms is still can areas are in study. insignificant. There is an increasing consensus with regard to the key role of new technologies for a sustainable develop- THE NEED FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN ment and for the achievement of the Millennium Develop- AFRICA ment Goals (MDG). There is also an urgent need for cap- turing the momentum for the inclusion of Africa in this World trade in higher value-added products and services technology race. On the one hand, with a few exceptions and especially in high tech has been growing much faster (Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, Tunisia, etc) we than the trade in raw materials that still dominate African observe the marginalization of the African continent with exports. The Asian tiger economies, with their high tech- regards to Science and Technology production. On the nological capability, have been able to participate in this other hand, we can list the series of declarations of inter- development (Watson et al., 2003). By contrast Africa’s est, commitments or preliminary initiatives aiming at the share in global manufacturing, which was already very establishment of STPs in order to increase the technolo- low with 1% in 1980, declined to 0.78% in 2002 (Wolf, gical capabilities of the continent. Africa is experiencing a 2007). rising concern with regards to STPs. As a consequence The African framework is characterized by a surprising to the above, our study intends to proceed as follows: lack of the critical or basic instrument for innovation. The low innovative capacity of most African countries had a First of all, we will review the ongoing initiatives on STP negative impact on private sector development. Figure 1 in selected African countries. This would help us to clas- highlights the above observation by underlying the diffu- sify the countries and express the diversity on bases of sed need for skills in Africa. development in the continent. In the second part, we will For the upper middle income countries. They represent attempt to estimate the readiness for the selected African those African states which are above the per capita in- countries to establish STPs. The assessment will be bas- come average of the continent which have a better struc- ed on the needed national conditions and countries key tured and developed private sector and especially more characteristics for effective Science and Technology ac- financial resources to dedicate to innovation incentives, tivities. the most important constraints for business operations growth are skills for which STPs could apparently help to As a starting point of our analysis or a basic hypothesis of solve. STPs are increasingly being adopted as an impor- our study, we consider that establishing an STP in Africa tant economic development tool and as an integrated part must be done in an appropriate way (less costly solution, of the national or regional innovate- ion system. with respect to the various cultural African contexts, and The race for establishing STPs in Africa seems to be as a real answer to local ventures – enterprises). We will guided by a fundamental need to enhance the innovative use the expression of readiness in order to appreciate capabilities and technological progress of countries; and where the African continent stands in this process of ge- in the long term to improve the standard of living of the neralization of STPs throughout the world. African population. 210 Afri. J. Pol. Sci Int. Relat. Figure 1. Top constraints to business operations growth in Africa. From its original meaning, STPs are often associated STPs (Weddle, 2008). Our study will show that African with high-tech innovations for various reasons. They ongoing initiatives are in their majority, in a planning or seem to be the most appropriate places for establishing operational phase, with the exception of selected South growing high-tech companies and to promote innova- African experiences which are in a fully functional stage. tions. These are the proper places for creating real syner- In fact, the first science parks on the continent were gies in such sensitive fields of high-tech and to “guide” established relatively recently in South Africa (Stellen- and safeguard high-tech entrepreneurs whose previous bosch and Pretoria). Nowadays, ideas of many African experience is within purely technical spheres rather than leaders on development projects are being progressively areas of general management (Berry, 1998). attracted by the establishment of science parks. Never- However, the only focus on high tech activities could theless, Africa has lagged behind. For those countries appear inappropriate to most African countries consider- where the efforts of setting up STPs have reached a ing the fact that there is still a chronic lack of S and T functional stage, it has been more than just a ministerial support infrastructure as well as the relevant skills. In declaration, with the concept having different interpreta- fact, for the few ongoing experiences on STP in Africa, tions and achievements. there is a variety of approaches and focus.

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