The Digital Revolu on, Open Science andInnova on for Development in sub-SaharanAfricaGeoﬀrey Boulton
University of Edinburgh, UK
Cheikh Loucoubar
Pasteur Ins tute, Dakar, Senegal
Joseph Mwelwa
Joint Minds Consult Ins tute, Gabarone, Botswana
Muliaro Wafula
Jomo Kenya a University of Agricultural Technology, Nairobi, Kenya
Nicholas Ozor
African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS)
Maurice Bolo
The Scinnovent Centre

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TheScinnovent Centre

SCIENCE , INNOVATION AND ENTERPRISE

The African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) is atransdisciplinary network of researchers, policymakers, private
sector actors and the civil society promo ng the genera on,
dissemina on, use and mastery of Science, Technology andInnova ons (STI) for African development, environmental
sustainability and global inclusion. In collabora on with likeminded ins tu ons, ATPS provides pla orms for regional andinterna onal research and knowledge sharing in order to build
Africa’s capabili es in STI policy research, policymaking andimplementa on for sustainable development.

NO L O G Y P OLI

Published by the African Technology Policy
Studies Network (ATPS)

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P O Box 10081, 00100 GPO Nairobi, Kenya© 2020NET

WORK

ISBN: 978-9966-124-94-4

Table of Contents
List of figures ............................................................................. ii
About the Science Gran ng Councils Ini a ve.......................... iii
About the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS)..... iv
About Scinnovent Centre............................................................. iv
Acknowledgement....................................................................... v
Key Messages............................................................................... vi
1.
Introduc on....................................................................... 1
2.
Context: Knowledge, Innova on and Human Progress...... 2
2.1 A new knowledge revolu on ............................................ 2
2.2 The power of digital technologies..................................... 3
2.3 The 4th industrial revolu on and its consequences ......... 43.
Key Report Findings: Challenges and Opportuni es
for Africa .......................................................................... 6
3.1 What knowledge, infrastructures and skills does Africa
need to develop?.............................................................. 6
3.2 Open Science as an eﬀec ve and eﬃcient
framework for development ............................................ 8
3.3 Building Africa’s science capacity through an OpenScience area ..................................................................... 9
3.4 Delivering na onal benefits............................................. 12
4.
Recommenda ons to the Science Gran ng Councils
and Governments ........................................................... 14
5.
A erword.......................................................................... 17
Appendices....................................................................... 18
About the Authors ........................................................... 18
Some ATPS Technopolicy Brief Series............................... 20

The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan AfricaiList of Figures
Figure 1:

ii

Changing economies, socie es and lives:
the impacts of the digital revolu on.................... 5

The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

About the Science Gran ng Councils
Ini a ve
The Science Gran ng Councils Ini a ve in Sub-Saharan Africa (SGCI)
seeks to strengthen capaci es of Science Gran ng Councils (SGCs)
in Eastern, Southern, Central and West Africa in order to support
research and evidence-based policies that will contribute to economic
and social development. It is jointly funded by the United Kingdom’s
Department for Interna onal Development (DFID), Canada’s
Interna onal Development Research Centre (IDRC), South Africa’s
Na onal Research Founda on (NRF) and the Swedish Interna onal
Development Coopera on Agency (Sida).
The objec ves of SGCI are to strengthen the ability of par cipa ng
SGCs to 1) manage research; 2) design and monitor research
programmes, and to formulate and implement policies based on theuse of robust science, technology and innova on (STI) indicators; 3)
support knowledge transfer to the private sector; and; 4) establish
partnerships with one another, and with other science system
actors. The implementa on of these objec ves is achieved throughregional training courses, individualised on-site training sessions, online training, webinars and, collabora ve research. The SGCI works
with 15 councils in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia,
Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ghana, Zambia, Mozambique,
Botswana, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
The SGCIs principle output include 1) more eﬀec ve research
management prac ces among Councils, 2) strengthened abilityof Councils to design and monitor research programmes, and toformulate and implement policies based on the use of robust science
technology and innova on indicators, 3) increased knowledge transfer
to the private sector and 4) increasingly coordinated and networked
Councils. More eﬀec ve Councils are expected to strengthen na onal
science systems, and ul mately lead to na onally-led research that
contributes to development in par cipa ng African countries.
The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan AfricaiiiAbout the African Technology
Policy Studies Network (ATPS)
The African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) is a transdisciplinary network of researchers, policymakers, private sector
actors and the civil society promo ng the genera on, dissemina on,
use and mastery of Science, Technology and Innova ons (STI) for
African development, environmental sustainability and global
inclusion. ATPS has over 1,300 members and 3000 stakeholders inover 51 countries in 5 con nents with ins tu onal partnerships
worldwide. We implement our programs through members in
na onal chapters established in 30 countries (27 in Africa and 3
Diaspora chapters in the Australia, United States of America, andUnited Kingdom). In collabora on with like-minded ins tu ons,
ATPS provides pla orms for regional and interna onal researchand knowledge sharing in order to build Africa’s capabili es in STI
policy research, policymaking and implementa on for sustainable
development.

About Scinnovent Centre
The Scinnovent Centre is a science, technology and innova on (STI)
policy think tank registered in Kenya as a not-for-profit company.
Their preliminary concern is that despite advancements in science,technology and innova on (STI), poverty levels in Africa are increasing;environment degrada on is worsening; the ecosystem has become
more fragile; sustainability has been compromised and livelihoods
threatened.
So they ask three big ques ons: Why have the developments
in science, technology and innova on not made any significant
diﬀerence in African development? Why have STI policies nottranslated into prac cal change on the ground? How come pockets
of success piloted across countries have not scaled?
iv The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

Acknowledgement
This Technopolicy Brief was published by the African Technology Policy
Studies Network (ATPS) in partnership with the Scinnovent Centre
under the Science Gran ng Councils Ini a ve in sub-Saharan Africa.
The ATPS and Scinnovent Centre acknowledge the funding support
received from United Kingdom’s Department for Interna onal
Development (DFID), Canada’s Interna onal Development ResearchCentre (IDRC), South Africa’s Na onal Research Founda on (NRF)
and the Swedish Interna onal Development Coopera on Agency(Sida). The authors are grateful for helpful comments on the text
from na onal representa ves at the annual Science Gran ng
Councils Forum (2019) and most especially from Professor Olufemi
Bamiro (Nigeria), Mr. Oliver Boachie (Ghana) Professor Sékou Traoré(Guinea), and Dr Heide Hackmann (South Africa).

The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan AfricavKey Messages• The last two decades have experienced the explosive global
growth of powerful digital technologies that have invaded allparts of the human experience, with profound implica ons forci zens, socie es, economies and for science.
• This digital revolu on, and the scien fic and technologicalcapaci es that generate its dynamic, form the bedrock on which
the globally pervasive “4 industrial revolu on” is built, disrup ng
pre-exis ng norms and unleashing an unprecedented new era ofinnova on.
• Science systems in Africa, as worldwide, must adapt theirworking prac ces to these challenges, create knowledge thatcan be drawn upon by public and private sectors, and develop
individuals with the high-level skills and competencies to develop
the entrepreneurial agents that all dynamic socie es need.
• A major new prac ce has been development of an interna onal
“Open Science” movement, enabled by this new digital world,
and well-adapted through an ethos of sharing, to maximising
the poten al for benefit and as a means of addressing the manypressing global challenges, including those of the SDGs.
• New “digital” prac ces are also onerous, including provision of
IT infrastructure, policies, incen ves, methods and standards
for data sharing, security against malign interven ons, policingof ethical standards, and systems and so ware needed by highlevel analy c and AI procedures; such that no individual andfew organiza ons or states in Africa could hope to provide themalone.
• A way forward for Africa lies in an approach that has proved
eﬃcient at ins tu onal, disciplinary, na onal, or interna onalvi The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

levels, in scaling up the eﬀort to develop well-managed, integrated
digital services and open, sharing prac ces, through Open Sciencepla orms or commons that serve a wide community throughmore or less seamless provision of support and processes forhighly crea ve interac ons.
• The Science Gran ng Councils occupy an intermediary posi on
between governments and the science community, and could
act as a powerful and persuasive collec ve force in developing
an African open science area, with a pla orm or commons at its
heart, and poten al synergies with the African Con nental Free
Trade Area (AfCFTA).
• Such an ini a ve, if seized with boldness and determina on, oﬀers
benefits of greater eﬀec veness in achievement and eﬃciencies
in opera on through the development of joint strategic planning,
virtual cri cal masses, cost eﬃcient procurement, sharedinfrastructure, shared curricula, and increasing interna onal
impact through a powerful common voice.

The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa vii

viii The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

1.

Introduc on

The last two decades have experienced an explosive global growth ofpowerful digital technologies for communica on, data acquisi on,computa on, ar ficial intelligence and unrestrained informa on
broadcas ng. Together they cons tute a “digital revolu on”. It is arevolu on of historic significance that has invaded all parts of thehuman experience, with profound implica ons for ci zens, socie es,
economies and for science, and which no society can ignore. It isthe basis of the so-called 4th industrial revolu on. A new scien fic
paradigm, of Open Science, has been enabled by the digital revolu on.
This Open Science has the poten al to eﬃciently and eﬀec vely
exploit these revolu ons to the benefit of socie es and economies.
The African Science Gran ng Councils Ini a ve has commissioned
a report en tled Open Science in Research and InnovaƟon for
Development in sub-Saharan Africa to explore this poten al for
Africa. It sets out: the basis of this revolu on and its impacts, why
Africa has no alterna ve but to respond to its challenges, and how
it could most produc vely do so through a major Open Scienceini a ve.

The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

12.

Context: Knowledge, Innova on
and Human Progress

New knowledge and its dissemina on have always been powerfuldrivers of human material and social progress. Human history has
seen a series of spectacular bursts of innova on with profoundeconomic and social consequences as new knowledge has spread.
The development of arable agriculture was able, for the first me, tocreate an agricultural surplus, thereby spurring popula on growthand enabling many social innova ons. The inven on of prin ng withmoveable metallic type reduced the costs of producing text, leading
to the spread of literacy and educa on, and deep eﬃciencies in tradeand governance. The inven on of electricity drama cally enhancedenergy produc on and powered an unprecedented range of systems
that form the technological bedrock for modern society.
2.1 A new knowledge revolu on
We are now in the midst of a further revolu on of world historicsignificance, poten ally more powerful and pervasive than all theothers because it concerns knowledge itself, not just knowledgeof other technologies. The last thirty years has seen the rapid
replacement of analogue by digital devices for acquiring, storing,transmi ng and manipula ng data in ways that drama cally reduce
costs and increase flexibility. It has created the unprecedented
phenomenon of “big data”, the fuel that drama cally enhances thecapaci es of computers and that releases the poten al of ar ficial
intelligence technologies. Although the la er were largely createdfive decades ago, there were inadequate data to fuel them, so thatthey produced only trivial results. That has changed decisively.
2 The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

2.2 The power of digital technologies
It may appear counter-intui ve, but science has hitherto been
concerned with rela vely simple phenomena, which have been
assumed to have arbitrary boundaries that isolate them from otherinfluences in so-called closed systems. This “reduc onist” approachhas been, and s ll is, a powerful one, responsible for many of thegreat discoveries of science. But the enormous and diverse fluxesof data that are now available to science, to business and to society,permit us to realise the vision of Stephen Hawking, the renowned
cosmologist who, in the year 2000, argued that “the next century(the 21st) will be the century of complexity”. Complex systems
display what physicists call “emergent proper es”. It is not possible
to predict the behaviour of such systems merely by understanding
their individual cons tuents: the behaviour of the whole is diﬀerent
from the sum of the parts. The dawning science of complexity is thescience of the real world, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
and the real universe, of ci es, bio-molecular medicine and black
holes.
Almost all the major challenges that face humanity and individualstates, from infec ous disease, to the behaviour and func ons ofci es, to na onal and global economies, to global sustainability, areembedded in complex systems. Today’s data deluge permits us tocharacterise and model such complexity using high performancecompu ng and machine learning, a core technology of ar ficial
intelligence.
Computers execute our commands, but learning machines learn likehumans, from experience. Their “experiences” are derived from thepowerful and diverse fluxes of data that stream through them at highrates, and their learning experience lies, as it does in humans, in the
progressive iden fica on of pa erns in the data that pass throughthem. This enables them to iden fy pa erns that have hitherto
beyond our capaci es to recognise, which is the basis of their value to
The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

3science and to society. Is that really so profound? Yes, it is. Almost all
the great discoveries of science have been based on ini al recogni onof pa erns in reality, which have spurred the ques on “why” and the
deeper inves ga ons and the discoveries that have followed. Equally,
the recogni on of pa erns in the complexity inherent in business andindustrial processes, health systems, governance systems and publicaﬀairs are leading to profound increases in eﬃciency and reduc ons
in cost through the use of machine learning algorithms. Pa erns ofdisease in popula ons improve targeted provision; transport systems
are op mally scheduled; goods are eﬃciently delivered to markets;energy systems are op mally run to minimise costs and reduce power
outages; and government services can be most eﬃciently matchedto human needs.
2.3 The 4th industrial revolu on and its consequences
These digital knowledge technologies are the power underlying theso-called 4th industrial revolu on, because of their applicability tomost human, societal and economic purposes. They cons tute a“general purpose” technology, one of only four in human history,
that con nually transforms itself, progressively penetra ng new
domains, boos ng produc vity across all sectors and industries
because of its cost eﬀec veness (Fig.1). It is globally pervasive,
disrup ng pre-exis ng norms and unleashing an unprecedented
new era of innova on that has profound implica ons, for science,for industry and economies, but also for society and for policy at
all levels of governance. Machine learning is unlocking value acrossevery industry. PricewaterhouseCoopers expect it to be responsible
for $15.7 trillion of global GDP by 2030 – more than the current GDP
output of China and India combined. By 2035, Accenture es matesthat it will increase produc vity and profitability by 40% and 38%
respec vely. Whether and how these technologies are embraced andhow underlying capaci es and skills are developed will determine
which side of the disrup on equa on states and socie es will lie.

4 The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

Banking
Insurance
Educa onHealthMedia

Agriculture

General Purpose
Technologies of theDigital Revolu on
Government
PublicServices

Sustainability

Commerce

Industry
Smart
Ci es

Fig. 1: Changing economies, socie es and lives: the impacts of the digital revolu on.

All new technologies generate not only new benefits but also new
dangers. The inven on of the aeroplane also, in eﬀect, generated
plane crashes, the inven on of the ship, shipwrecks. The dark sideof the digital revolu on lies in cyber-fraud, a massively growing
industry, cyber-warfare, including a acks on na onal infrastructure,cyber-espionage, including a acks on the integrity of databases, andcyber-lies that undermine civic consensus and electoral integrity. It
is a responsibility of governments not only to s mulate the use andeﬀec veness of this new technology to create social and economic
benefit, but also to mi gate its risks.

The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

53.

Key Report Findings: Challenges
and Opportuni es for Africa

Reaping the economic and social benefits and avoiding or mi ga ng
the harms of the digital revolu on depend fundamentally on thecapacity of na onal science systems to promote research that
exploits the cu ng edge of fast-developing technologies and theirapplica ons. There is a two-fold purpose:• to create knowledge that can be drawn upon by public and private
sectors;• and to develop individuals with the high-level skills andcompetencies required by these sectors to become theentrepreneurial agents that all dynamic socie es need.
A country that fails to develop these capaci es will inevitably become
dependent upon skills bought in from elsewhere as a passive and illinformed consumer of expensive digital services, lacking the crea vity
to thrive in a fast-changing world. Could such developments be leto the private sector? No. Such roles are invariably developed by
the public sector in crea ng “public goods” that are available to any
innova ve individual or group to exploit in compe ve enterprises.
Private sector investment at this basic level encloses knowledge
behind a pay-wall, deepens and entrenches monopoly power, anddeprives society or government of the skills to act as an intelligent
customer, to their great financial and social disadvantage.
3.1

What knowledge, infrastructures and skills does Africa
need to develop?
To engage eﬀec vely with this revolu on and to benefit fromit depends on developing and adap ng the infrastructures and
6 The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

competences of na onal science systems. Just as science systems
worldwide are struggling to adapt to this new paradigm, so must
Africa, but in its own way. The revolu on oﬀers great possibili es
for Africa, which, if seized with boldness and imagina on, have thepoten al to support scien fic, economic and social dynamism that
can help advance the energies and poten als of the con nent. Africa
should move on from a world in which maintaining exclusive accessto data that individuals and groups have created has been a key toscien fic discovery and its applica on, to one where data access isthe priority. One can either hoard li le or access a lot. The former is
an island – the la er is an ocean.
The report for the African Science Gran ng Councils Ini a ve
(SGCI), Open Science in Research and Innova on for Developmentin sub-Saharan Africa describes in detail the policies, approaches,
infrastructures and capaci es required to address the challenges
now facing Africa as a whole. In summary they are:a) to adopt common polices for access and use of data;b) to create data repositories, as well as research data management
and so ware services, to enable scien sts and other stakeholders
to u lise modern data resources in innova ve and crea ve ways;c) to improve the infrastructure and communica on networks,
together with high performance compu ng centres and cloudcompu ng capaci es that enable stakeholders to undertake stateof the art data analyses;d) to improve the circula on of scien fic knowledge through open
access publishing that serves Africa’s needs, best done by working
in collabora on with the interna onal scien fic community, forwhich the current dysfunc onal model of scien fic publishing isa major concern;e) to create programmes of research on major issues of specificrelevance for Africa that will drive the use of these infrastructuresand s mulate scien sts and other stakeholders to create
economic and societal benefits;f) to create state-of-the-art capacity in ar ficial intelligence,
The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

7par cularly in machine learning, in ways that are able to inspireand support data-intensive science and innova on;g) to develop the individual skills and competencies required toprogress data-intensive science and to realise its poten al forsocio-economic benefit.
3.2

Open Science as an eﬀec ve and eﬃcient framework fordevelopment
The opportuni es oﬀered by the digital revolu on for science andits applica on to economies and socie es have s mulated a majorinterna onal movement for “Open Science”, which the SGCI reportcharacterises as “open data”, “open access publishing” and “open tosociety”. The value of such an open science for Africa is based on two
fundamental premises:• The eﬃciency of science in exploi ng this new world of data
depends upon the ability to move beyond a world in whichscien sts only have access to the data that they have created, to
one of sharing in which they have access to the diverse data series
needed to address complexity, and where access to scien fic
publica on for both producers and users is aﬀordable and easy.
• The openness of the World Wide Web and the development of
the social media that it has enabled have created a new social
dynamic that has undermined the authority of the tradi onal
media that have been the “gatekeepers” of authorised wisdom,
disrupted the prevailing pathways through which scien fic
knowledge permeates into society, and undermined trust inscien fic ins tu ons. In a world that needs science more thanever, an open science is needed that engages with society, withbusiness, policymakers, governments, communi es and ci zens
as knowledge partners in ways that increase both eﬀec venessand socio-poli cal legi macy.
Responding to these impera ves imposes considerable pressure forchange on both scien sts and na onal science systems. Managing,cura ng and using large and diverse data volumes, developing the
incen ves, methods and standards for data sharing, maintaining
8 The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

security against malign interven ons, ensuring the preserva on of
ethical standards, developing the systems and so ware to undertake
all these tasks and keeping abreast of the rapidly evolving state of theart in data science has the poten al to absorb so much of scien sts’
eﬀorts that they are either deterred from data-intensive science or
unable to find me for research itself.
It has proved far more eﬃcient at ins tu onal, disciplinary, na onal,
or interna onal levels to scale up the eﬀort and develop wellmanaged services in the form of open science pla orms or commonsthat serve a wide community. These recognize that the individual
func ons described above are inter-related, all parts of a systemof func ons, rather than standing alone. Ini a ves to create open
science or open data pla orms or commons are designed to provide
a more or less seamless provision of support, from IT infrastructure tohigh-level analy c and AI procedures, and in many cases, support fordata-intensive scien fic programmes on specific thema c priori es.
They free domain scien sts to concentrate on their scien fic priori esrather than ac ng as amateur data technologists. Such an approachhas been developing in Africa in human heredity and health1 and as
a general approach across the sciences2.
3.3

Building Africa’s science capacity through an Open Sciencearea
By interna onal standards, sub-Saharan Africa’s investment inscience is low as a propor on of GDP (<1%), compounded by its low
GDP in rela on to a popula on of 1.216 billion. It is therefore notsurprising that its contribu on to global research output is less than
1%, although having 16.27% of global popula on. As a consequence,
sub-Saharan countries consume research outputs from outside
the con nent and contribute very li le from their own resources,1
H3ABionet H3ABioNet is a “hub and nodes” plaƞorm that is developing and rolling out a coordinated bioinformaƟcs
research infrastructure, Ɵghtly coupled to sophisƟcated pan-African bioinformaƟcs training.
2
The African Open Science Plaƞorm (AOSP) has the mission of puƫng African scienƟsts at the cuƫng edge ofcontemporary, data-intensive science, based on a federated infrastructure and on servicing scienƟsts and other societal
actors with modern data resources to maximise scienƟfic, social and economic benefit.

The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

9depending heavily on interna onal funding, collabora on and visi ng
academics for their research output. The science eﬀort is already inthe unhealthy state referred to in sec on 3.
The African Union’s 2017 report on Science Technology andInnova on 2024 (STISA2024)3 iden fied a series of major priori es
for research, but also drew a en on to two major structural deficits
within African science:• the paucity of intra-African collabora ons;
• the scarcity of cri cal masses of researchers in key areas ofresearch.
As examples from mature, eﬃciently-func oning research systems
show, these are crucial features, which undermine the capacity toaddress the priority research targets in STISA2024 and those of the SDGs.
Building on the growing open science movement in Africa could,
if developed with boldness and imagina on, begin to grapple withthese fundamental problems and set Africa on a trajectory thatwould augur well for its development and long-term economic andsocial prosperity.
An open science commons or pla orm could be a powerful meansof realising the poten al of the digital revolu on for Africa throughthe mechanisms described in 3.2. Rather than these being created ata na onal level, it would be more eﬃcient by far to create, throughcollec ve ac on between member states, a federated African
open science area with a pla orm or commons at its heart. Such acollec ve strategy is the one most likely to deliver individual na onal
benefits and, in the near term, to mobilise the resources necessary
to implement the opera onal policies, infrastructures and prac cesthat are needed for a powerful open science capacity:
I. Access to state-of-the-art computa on and communica on
systems, with major distributed nodes of capability to serve a
growing network.
3 hƩp://www.nepad.org/news/sƟsa-2024-guide-africa-exploit-its-opportuniƟes

10 The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

II. Grand challenge, data-intensive, research programmes on major
issues for Africa, to s mulate take-up of data intensive capaci es,
and to create virtual cri cal masses and enhanced intra-Africancollabora on.
III. Major database centres that serve the above objec ves.
IV. An interna onally compe ve ar ficial intelligence/machinelearning capacity to inspire and serve the open science community.
V. Up-to-date curricula and concerted programmes of capacity
building to ensure an eﬃcient pipeline of the skills needed inscience, in the public and private sectors, in educa on and forci zens.
Not only could this deliver the priori es outlined in points 3.1ag, but it could also resolve the structural weaknesses iden fied in
STISA2024, whilst adding to the overall strength, dynamism andu lity of the African science eﬀort through:a) joint strategic planning to achieve the priori es of 3.1a-g;b) developing virtual cri cal masses;c) enhancing intra-African collabora on through major programmes
directed towards African priori es;d) eﬃciencies in procurement;e) eﬃciencies of scale through shared infrastructural provision anddatabase services;f) federa ng exis ng capaci es as a basis for a powerful network;g) strategic capacity building with shared curricula;h) partner of choice in interna onal consor a;i) increasing interna onal impact through a powerful common
voice.
A ques on that should be considered is whether the launch in
September 2019 of the African Con nental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)
could be a springboard for an African open science area, possible basedon the developing African Open Science Pla orm. Following hard on
the heels of the AfCFTA, such a move would be a major statement ofintent from Africa about a confident and crea ve scien fic future. As
The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa 11

the European experience has shown, free trade and the mobility ofideas and people it s mulates are precisely the quali es that sciencethrives on and contributes to. It is a duo that could be a powerfulsource of economic, social and cultural dynamism.
Mul -na onal open science pla orms that are now opera onal
demonstrate the produc vity of a hub-and-nodes model that could
eﬃciently serve African needs. The hub acts as a coordina ng
body to service overall management. The nodes are specialised
centres, contribu ng in an agreed way to the delivery of pla ormcompetences and represen ng regional or na onal priori es in theoverall strategy and func oning of the pla orm.
3.4 Delivering na onal benefits
Na onal investments in science systems designed to derive benefits
from the digital revolu on, be they cultural, social or economic,
depend on the eﬀec veness of the system and the eﬃcient placingof the investment needed to deliver them. Eﬀec veness depends
on the crea vity of the system in producing new knowledge, anddoing so in ways that bring benefit to society, including developmentof the human capaci es and the dissemina on of innova veknowledge into the public and private spheres. Eﬃciency relates tothe produc vity of na onal investment in realising those benefits at
op mal opportunity cost. The combina on of high eﬀec veness andhigh eﬃciency are persuasive reasons for a government to invest indigital capabili es through the open science route.
In seeking maximal exploita on of the digital revolu on, wellfunded na onal science systems tend to fund large numbers ofdiverse ini a ves Ain the expecta on that compe on will be an
important crea ve force, though with core state funding of expensive
infrastructure. This is a model that depends upon high levels ofinvestment that African states are generally unable to mobilise. For
Africa, na onal eﬀec veness and eﬃciency are most likely to bedelivered through coopera on, by crea ng a mul -na onal pla orm
12 The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

as described in sec on 3.3. Its poten al na onal benefits are:Eﬀec veness. A well-organised pla orm as the core of a major African
ini a ve would permit the key structural issues in STISA2014 tobe addressed through the crea on of virtual cri cal masses (3.3b)and enhanced intra-African collabora on (3.3c). Shared IT anddata-science infrastructure enable this, and major collabora ve
programmes of data intensive science for African priori es
generate direc on and power (3.3a). Na onal benefits are
created through involvement in a dynamic scien fic community,
whilst a stronger African voice creates the poten al for greater
global engagement as an equal partner (3.3g,h). Collabora on
in such an environment enhances the poten al to create anddeliver cu ng-edge, na onally focussed, learning curricula invital public and private sector applica on domains. It enables thepoten al for deeper engagement with society and with ci zens.
Eﬃciency. A collabora ve ini a ve oﬀers cost-eﬃcient economies ofscale to na onal science through joint procurement (3.3d), cost
sharing for expensive infrastructure (3.3e), federa on of exis ng
capaci es (3.3f - NRENS, HPC, Cloud facili es), shared databaseservice provision (3.3e), and strategic approaches to interna onal
funders.
Such an eﬀec ve and eﬃcient system with developed pathways
to societal stakeholders and the ability to respond to na onal andregional priori es is likely to be seen as an essen al and produc ve
investment in the future, thereby jus fying higher levels of funding
than currently allocated.

The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa 13

4.

Recommenda ons to the
Science Gran ng Councils andGovernments

The Science Gran ng Councils have a unique, intermediary posi onin na onal science systems. They both represent and influence
government policies for science, whilst also influencing andresponding to the priori es of the scien fic community. Becauseof their intermediary posi on they have a crucial role to playwhen confron ng epochal challenges such as that of the digital
revolu on. The principle issue for them is how boldly they areable to act in confron ng these challenges. Sec on 3.3 presents
powerful arguments that the strength of the Councils’ leverage andtheir capacity to generate benefits at na onal levels are based on
their preparedness to act as a collec ve. We therefore base ourrecommenda ons on this premise.
Recommenda on 1
The Councils should intensify the level, scope and ambi on ofcollec ve ac on by building on the SGCI to play a strategic rolein developing an African open science area, and seek the support
and acquiescence of their respec ve governments in doing so.
Recommenda on 2
The Councils, in consulta on with their governments, should
determine the level of collec ve ambi on, considering whether
they should act:
• to promote crea on of an open science area based on pla ormor commons with the components and func onali es as set out
in sec on 3.3 (I-V & a-i);
14 The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa• to coordinate and complement exis ng open science ac vi es inAfrica;• or to develop a more limited, but focused role for collec ve ac on
designed to have major impact on two key areas: of enhancing IT
infrastructures by federa on and expansion of exis ng capaci es;
and crea ng major data-intensive programmes on intra-Africanpriori es to s mulate crea ve use of IT capaci es and to build
intra-African virtual cri cal masses.
Recommenda on 3
Gran ng Councils should work with governments to develop
a concordat for the coordina on of policy and ac on and thestrategic use of collec ve resources. It should involve agreement
on ma ers such as intellectual property, open data standards andrules of access for common infrastructure. An opera onal open
science system will require convergence on these issues if it is tobe eﬃcient and eﬀec ve.
Recommenda on 4
Gran ng Councils should work to mobilise support, commitment
and understanding for the above priori es from a wide rangeof stakeholders within their scien fic communi es. The
development of a pla orm could be a forum for crea ng synergy
between key players, maximising collec ve impact, and reducing
unnecessary duplica on. Its members should include na onal
academies; researchers, mo vated by scien fic opportunity;
universi es, mo vated by reputa on, funding and a rac venessto staﬀ and students; and private sector companies, mo vatedby innova ve poten al, the supply of innova ve personnel andthe crea on of markets for their products.
Recommenda on 5
Gran ng Councils could act collec vely as an interface withinterna onal development bodies, other donors and strategic
partners to make a collec ve and integrated case for African
The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa 15

science priori es4. The Councils should collec vely express
con nental priori es with greater coherence, encouraging otherna onal, regional and interna onal funders to act in coordinatedways in response to these priori es. They could also be a meansof gaining support from the interna onal science community as
represented by the Interna onal Science Council (ISC) and its
data bodies (the Commi ee on Data – CODATA - and the World
Data System -WDS), and the Research Data Alliance (RDA).
Recommenda on 6
The Science Gran ng Councils should commission and be involvedin expert reviews of:• The poten al for convergence of na onal policies, regula ons
and standards for open science, and the possible role of theCouncils in facilita ng convergence.
• How African priori es for scien fic publishing can be achieved,
and to ensure that these concerns contribute to a global review
being led by the Interna onal Science Council.
• The impact of metrics for research on the research process,and how they might be improved to sa sfy African priori es.
They should ensure that these concerns contribute to a global
review being led by the Interna onal Science Council.
• Iden fying cost-eﬃcient means of federa ng current
computa onal, cloud and communica on capabili es(including the NRENS, and linking with SKA capabili es), andextending and eﬃciently managing them. This might also
involve poten al funders.

4 For example Canada’s InternaƟonal Development Research Centre (IDRC), Sweden’s Sweden’s InternaƟonal
Development CooperaƟon Agency (SIDA), UK’s Department for InternaƟonal Development (DFID), the World Bank,
which has a major project on the digital economy for Africa, the European Union, the USA’s NaƟonal InsƟtute of Health(NIH), the Wellcome Trust and many other internaƟonal foundaƟons.

16 The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

5.

A erword“The basic economic resource is no longer capital, nor land, nor labour.
It is and will be – knowledge.” The digital transformaƟon is a massive
leap in the producƟon, communicaƟon and use of knowledge, withprofound implicaƟons for all socieƟes and economies. The train isleaving the staƟon. Jump on board now, or be leŌ behind. Unless
Africa responds with urgency to develop vital capaciƟes, it will
inevitably become, yet again, dependent upon skills bought in from
elsewhere as a passive and ill-informed consumer of expensive digital
services, lacking the creaƟvity to thrive in a fast-changing world. It
has the opportunity to avoid this fate, by bold and Ɵmely acƟon,possibly building on the creaƟon of the AfCFTA, in order finally toachieve conƟnental development goals, with science, technology andinnovaƟon as primary drivers. This is not simply a vision for a futureof convenƟonal, carbon energy-driven growth, but one that is enƟrely
consistent with the ethos and the prioriƟes of global sustainability
and the SDGs.

The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa 17

Appendices
About the Authors
Geoﬀrey Boulton (lead author) is Regius Professor of Geology Emeritus in
the University of Edinburgh, UK. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and theRoyal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s na onal academy. He is a member of
the Governing Board of the Interna onal Science Council. He recently stepped
down as President of CODATA, where he was a champion of Open Data andOpen Science. He has chaired relevant influen al reports, for the Royal Society(Science as an Open Enterprise) and for Science Interna onal (Open Data in a Big
Data World).
Cheikh Loucoubar is a mathema cian working in sta s cal gene cs at the Ins tut
Pasteur de Dakar, heading the biosta s cs, bioinforma cs and modelling group.
He teaches sta s cal gene cs, biosta s cs and R sta s cal so ware in masterprograms at the University Gaston Berger of Saint Louis and University Cheikh
Anta Diop of Dakar. He is Co-Pi in H3ABioNet (Human Health and Heredity in
Africa, The Bioinforma c Network) running the Dakar Node.
Joseph Mwelwa is senior partner at Joint Minds Consult, a research, educa on
and training ins tute he founded to provide capacity development and support
in educa onal research, policy, curriculum development, training, knowledge
development and management and, post graduate student support in subSaharan Africa. He has been a member of the African Open Science Pla orm
Technical Advisory Board and co-authored the Joint Minds Consult posi on
paper that guided Botswana towards an Open Science and Open Data Strategy.
Joseph Muliaro Wafula is Associate Professor of compu ng at JKUAT, founderDirector of the ICT Centre of Excellence and Open Data (iCEOD) and a cybersecurity expert and data engineer. He chairs the African Open Science Pla orm’s
Technical Advisory Board and recently contributed to a review of the Global
Biodiversity Informa on Facility; to development of an African Policy Framework
and Policy Roadmap for open Science and open data; and a performing skills
audit and strategy development to fill the gaps in Northern Corridor Integrated
Project (Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Uganda). He is a member of CODATAInterna onal and of the editorial board of the Data Science Journal.
18 The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

Nicholas Ozor holds a B. Agric. (Nig., First Class Honours); MSc, Agricultural
Administra on (Nig., Dis nc on) Ph.D, Interna onal & Rural Development andAgricultural Extension (Reading, UK & Nigeria respec vely) and is the Execu ve
Director of the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS). He wasformerly a Senior lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Extension, Universityof Nigeria, Nsukka. Dr Ozor leads many interna onally funded research projects
bordering on science, technology and innova on (STI). He is a member of many
professional organiza ons and has published over 100 ar cles in reputableinterna onal journals, book chapters, and other mul media. Dr Ozor has raisedover US$ 50 million in grants to support development work in Africa. He sits on
the Board of many interna onal bodies including UNESCO.
Maurice Bolo holds a PhD in Science, Technology and Innova on Policy andover 15 years’ work experience. A Visi ng Research Fellow in the Department of
Policy and Prac ce (DPP) of the Open University (UK) and a Research Associate
at the Innogen Ins tute (Edinburgh, Scotland), Dr. Bolo has a vast interna onal
consultancy experience.

The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa 19

Some ATPS Technopolicy Brief Series1•

Nouvelles approaches de financement de la recherché et de L’innova on en
Afrique ((ATPS Technopolicy Brief No. 51)•

New Approaches for Funding Research and Innova on in Africa (ATPSTechnopolicy Brief No. 50)•

Towards Eﬀec ve Public-Private Partnerships in Research and Innova on: A
Perspec ve for African Science Gran ng Councils. (ATPS Technopolicy Brief
No. 49)•Innova ve Prac ces and Policies for Promo ng Biodiversity Informa cs in
Sub Saharan Africa (ATPS TechnoPolicy Brief No. 48)•

Improving the Relevance of University Training to Labour Market Demands
in Africa (ATPS TechnoPolicy brief No.47)•

Developing Policies for Biodiversity Informa cs in sub-Saharah Africa (ATPSTechnopolicy brief No. 46)•

ICTs role in Agricultural Development: Prospects of Land Poten al Knowledge
System (LandPKS) ((ATPS TechnoPolicy brief No. 45)•

Mainstreaming Gender in the Na onal Science, Technology and Innova on(STI) Policy of Kenya (ATPS TechnoPolicy brief No. 44)•

Social Innova on: An untapped Resource for Inclusive Green Growth (ATPSTechnoPolicy brief No. 43)•

Policy Axes that can uphold Agricultural Innova ons for Climate Change
Adapta on & Food Security in Central Africa: Case of Cameroon, Equatorial
Guinea and Central African Republic (ATPS TechnoPolicy brief No. 42)•

Frameworks for Intellectual Property Protec on of Tradi onal Knowledge inTanzania (ATPS TechnoPolicy brief No. 41)•

Assessment of Possible Intellectual Property Protec on Op ons of Tradi onal
Knowledge System in Ethiopia (ATPS TechnoPolicy brief No. 40)

1

hƩps://atpsnet.org/technopolicy-briefs/

20 The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa

•

Towards influencing Na onal Legisla on, Policies, Strategies and Programmes
for appropriate Protec on and Benefit-Sharing of Tradi onal Knowledge(TK) with and by Tradi onal Herbalists in Uganda. (ATPS TechnoPolicy Brief
No 39)•

Tradi onal Healers and their provision of Mental Health Services in
Cosmopolitan Informal Se lements in Nairobi, Kenya. (ATPS TechnoPolicy
Brief No. 38)•

Policy Implica ons for Intellectual Property Systems for Tradi onal Healers
in Lesotho. (ATPS TechnoPolicy Brief No. 37)•

Incidence of Indigeneous and Innova ve Climate Change Adapta on
Prac ces for Smallholder Framers’ Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District,
Southern Malawi. (ATPS TechnoPolicy Brief No.36)•

Machobane Farming System and its Relevance to Climate Change Policy inLesotho. (ATPS TechnoPolicy Brief No. 35)

The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa 21

22 The Digital Revolu on, Open Science and Innova on for Development in sub-Saharan Africa