Towards a Pan-African Innovation Ecosystem (PAIES)

Towards a Pan-African Innovation Ecosystem (PAIES):

STI cooperation as a lever of national, regional and continental development.

Prof. Jelel EzzineTunisian Association for the Advancement

of Science, Technology and Innovation (TAASTI)

1st International Conference on STI and DevelopmentSeoul, Republic of Korea

9-10 September, 2015

9-10/09/2015 STEPI 1st STI&D Conf., Seoul 1

1. The Clarion Calls,2. The Education Paradox,3. Visions of Sweet Tomorrow,4. Who is Right, Who is Wrong,5. From the What to the How,6. PAIES is Born …,7. … a Debut of a Solution,

Outline


Do you hear the clarion calls?


The Education Paradox!(or one more clarion call)


…established wisdom!Human capital plays a decisive role, and the capacity to learn matters more than the level of knowledge. While secondary school certificates were the trump cards of industrialization, higher degrees are those of the knowledge economy. Lifelong training is essential.

Lundvalle, 1998Knowledge Economies in MENA, WBI, 2003

“Over the next ten years, 26 of the top 30 fastest growing jobs require some post-secondary education or training … The demand for skilled workers is outpacing supply, resulting in attractive, high-paying jobs going unfilled.”

Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and TrainingInnovate America, Dec. 2004


The U.S. Case!


What about Africa?


Unemployment Rates by Level of Education

(Tunisia, 2001-2010)


Unemployment Rates by Educational Attainment

(Tunisia, 1984-2010)


STEPI 1st STI&D Conf., Seoul 109-10/09/2015

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/education-economic-growth-by-ricardo-hausmann-2015-05

Ricardo HausmannMay, 2015

China started with less education than Tunisia, Mexico, Kenya, or Iran in 1960, and had made less progress than them by 2010. And yet, in terms of economic growth, China blew all of them out of the water. The same can be said of Thailand and Indonesia vis-à-vis the Philippines, Cameroon, Ghana, or Panama. Again, the fast growers must be doing something in addition to providing education.

Hausmann’s finding!


1. Agenda 2063: The Africa we want, AU,

2. Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN,

3. Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA) 2024, AU.

Visions of sweet tomorrow!



Who is right who is wrong?


Entrepreneurship!


FDI and Technology Spillover• … the results show the positive impact of R&D

activities, human capital quality, past experience in innovation and public subsidies on probability of firms to innovate; whereas, ownership structure has a negative impact. Innovation and R&D Investment of Tunisian Firms: A Two-Regime Model with Selectivity Correction, MOHAMED KRIAA and ZOUHOUR KARRAY, The Journal of Business Inquiry 2010,

• They also suggest that firms with high export intensity and significant foreign capital participation are found to be less innovating than partially exporting firms with low foreign capital share. Innovation in Tunisia, Empirical Analysis for Industrial Sector, Moez El Elj, Décembre 2010.


(Slavo Radosevic, 2009)

R&D and Growth!


From the What to the How!


1.Phase I (now-2025): Further NISs convergence while preparing the future,

2.Phase II (now-2035): Regional Innovation Systems emergence, and

3.Phase III (now-2045): Viable operation of PAIES.

The Pan-African Innovation EcoSystem (PAIES)

A Three Phases short, medium to long term agenda


The Fundamental Process of Learning!

Ken ArrowLearning by Doing

1962

Joseph StiglitzLearning Society

1987

B. A. LundvallDUI-Mode Learning

1994


1.Mezzo level of analysis and policy: a System of Innovation perspective

2.Industrial upgrading and structural change at the the core of growth policy, and

3.Uncertainty(/Complexity) and its policy implications.

(Slavo Radosevic, 2009)

post-Washington approach


The idea has supporters!



1. On the Continental Level:i. Initiate work on PAIES by building on past experiences, available

literature, and “best” practices,ii. Identify and map the RISs, and potential causes of failures for

future policies design and implementation,iii. Initiate progressively the AE and AR Areas, aligned with the

PAIES framework while maintaining national, regional and continental coherence,

2. On the Countries level:i. “Benchmark” the NISs, and help identify promising

industry/services growth niches,ii. Identify R&D priorities, missing policies, and S&T

policies/management capacity building, in coherence with (i) and the new framework,

iii. Accelerate the contextualized convergence to the AE and AR Areas, with emphasis on institutional autonomy.

Phase I (now-2025)


1. On the Continental Level:i. Facilitate the development of the identified RISs in coherence

with the desired/emerging PAIES,ii. Assist in shaping the RISs, while consolidating the NISs,iii. Finalize the blue print needed for the launching of the PAIES,

2. On the Countries level:i. Implement the needed changes to secure the viability of their

NISs,ii. Initiate the needed transformations to adopt the identified

industries/services niches,iii. Actively contribute, with the concerned regional countries and

the assistance of e.g., the AU, to the creation and emergence of the RIs.

Phase II (now-2035)


1. On the Continental Level:i. Progressively launch the PAIES,ii. Evaluate, monitor and “smartly” tweak the NISs, the RISs and

the PAIES to viably sustain the three levels system,iii. Revisit the PAIES blue print such as the vision, mission and

strategies, along with the related programs and projects in order to fit the new local, regional and global contexts and dynamics,

2. On the Countries level:i. Steer effectively their NISs in coherence and complementarity

with their RIS,ii. Contribute effectively to their RIS and insure coherence with the

PAIES,iii. Fully engage with their NIS and RES, and actively participate in

the related governing bodies to sustain and enhance the systemic viability of the PAIES.

Phase III (now-2045)



PAIES is born and on …the move!





