African governments cannot impose a culture of innovation, but they can stimulate it through the creation of context, says World Bank Institute lead specialist Jean-Eric Aubert.
Aubert was speaking yesterday at the Conference on Knowledge for Africa`s Development, organised by the World Bank, SA`s Department of Science and Technology and Finland`s Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
The three-day conference, attended by African industry, government and educational leaders, focused on the role of education, innovation and ICT in creating a knowledge economy on the continent.
While various recommendations emerged from the conference, Bruno Laporte, manager of the World Bank Institute`s Knowledge for Development Programme, said the objective of the conference was not to lead to policy or a declaration, but rather to raise awareness.
Outlining the recommendations emerging from a workshop on innovation, Aubert said the main players in incubating innovation were firms and communities, knowledge institutions and networks, and government - including local authorities.
Government`s role was primarily to be a catalyst, providing appropriate incentives and stimulating interaction between the various players.
Catastrophe
The innovation workshop recommended the creation of two-level institutional structures in each country, with a national committee comprising key ministries, knowledge institutions, business and civic society representatives and diaspora connections.
The other level would comprise local forums with key players, including traditional chiefs.
"The two-level structure can be an innovation champion if it is given responsibility for strategic orientations and overseeing of resource management," Aubert said.
The workshop also saw the need for governments to remove regulations and other obstacles deterrent to innovation, with special focus on intellectual property rights, standards and metrology.
Speaking in a different session, Alan Gelb, director of development policy at the World Bank, said small cores of innovation existed in Africa already, although productivity was not as high as in the rest of the world.
"The capacity is there, but it needs to be broadened," he said.
Government research, he added, was often not specific enough for specific industries and thus more collaborative efforts were needed.
Paul Gines, director-general of the Interstate Higher Institute of Formation and Research in the Fields of Water, Energy, Environment and Infrastructure in Burkina Faso, said in response to the recommendations of the various workshops that he did not believe the institutional approach was the right one.
"If various initiatives in Africa evolved at the speed of government departments, the results would be a catastrophe," he told delegates. "If we present these ideas to a minister, nothing will happen.
"We have to look at novel approaches, forget what we learned at school. I do not have a solution to propose to you, but perhaps we should go against the models we have been using up to now. But what is certain is if we are static, if we do not move, we will not accomplish anything."
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