Pouris A: The State of Science and Technology in Africa (20002004): A Scientometric Assessment (original) (raw)
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With 55 countries, a population of over 700 million, and an average per capita income of roughly 7 US dollar per month, Africa remains, in economic terms, the poorest region in the world [1]. In fact, West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa and Southern Africa in particular, are expected to reach a combined GDP of $29 trillion by 2050 [2]. Indeed, Africa faces some of the toughest challenges worldwide, some of which include poor disease management strategies, poor infrastructural development, food insecurity, poor hygiene and sanitation, lack of potable water and climate change hazards [3]. Hence, in order to tackle such challenges a robust and efficient innovation ecosystem is required. Innovation is widely seen as central to the growth of developing countries, and available evidence suggests that the returns to Research and Development (R&D) investment should be extremely high. [4]. Yet still investment in research and development by low-income countries remains low, as is the case in African countries. Africa's share of global expenditure on research and development is low at 1.01% between 2014 and 2018 and even lower in Sub-Saharan Africa, where it dropped from 0.44% to 0.42% [5]. This contrasts with the situation in most high-income countries where research is receiving increased attention and investment, in recognition of its acknowledged contribution to health and economic development. Based on the UIS data, GERD in developing economies such as Japan, Finland and Norway has reached more than 3% of GDP. On the other hand, all the African nations are still unable to meet the commitments made by the African Union member countries in 2006 of spending 1% of their GDP on research and development [6]. These might be due to the limitations these countries face in terms of infrastructure, financial and knowledge resources which present a diverse set of challenges to invest in R&D [7]. Out