16 Items

Announcement - Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, Belfer Center

STPP Fellowships, 2014–2015

November 25, 2013

Each year, the Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School welcomes new pre- and post-doctoral fellows and visiting researchers to a select team of scholars exploring the critical role that science and technology play in everyday life.

Irrigated fields along the Nile, Karima, Sudan. The World Bank has estimated that Africa will need to invest nearly $93 billion per year in the next decade to meet its infrastructure targets.

Wikimedia Commons

Analysis & Opinions - CNN

How African Innovation Can Take on the World

| August 6, 2013

Africa's ability to sustain its current growth will depend largely on how quickly it will be able to shift from reliance on traditional commodity markets to modern economic structures that focus on technology-driven development. The focus on innovation is emerging as a key theme in the Africa Union's long-term strategy, Agenda 2063.

Announcement - Science, Technology, and Globalization Project, Belfer Center

Rebooting African Economies: Science and Engineering for Rapid Economic Transformation

| April 10, 2013

A lecture by Calestous Juma from 3:00–5:30 PM, April 18, 2013, at the Golf Course Hotel in Kampala, Uganda. Organized by the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA). Africa's identity has historically been associated with its vast natural resources which have shaped not only its political culture but also defined its place in the global family of nations. In recent years, however, a new picture of Africa has started to emerge. African economies are increasingly being view as rapid adopters of emerging technologies. The aim of this lecture is to identify approaches for leveraging the world's fund of scientific, technological, and engineering knowledge for rapid economic transformation.

Steve Niedbalski shows his drought and heat stricken corn while chopping it down for feed, July 11, 2012 in Nashville Ill. Farmers in parts of the Midwest are dealing with the worst drought in nearly 25 years.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - China Daily

No Need to Panic about Corn

| July 20, 2012

"US officials have long scolded China for not letting markets work, and for trying to run too much of their modern economy through state targets and inflexible mandates. The damage done by the US' ethanol mandate in the context of today's Midwest drought gives Chinese officials a chance to tell their counterparts from the US, 'Practice what you preach'."

Gertrude Kitongo poses with her mobile phone in Johannesburg, South Africa. She cherishes a cell phone as a link to family and friends and also sees it as a radio, a library, a mini cinema, a bank teller, etc., Nov. 8, 2011.

AP Photo

Magazine Article - Finance & Development

Africa's New Engine

| December 2011

Cell phone use has grown faster in Africa than in any other region of the world since 2003....Of course, South Africa—the most developed nation—still has the highest penetration, but across Africa, countries have leapfrogged technology, bringing innovation and connectivity even to remote parts of the continent, opening up mobile banking and changing the way business is done.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at a 37th anniversary celebration of the Brazilian Enterprise for Agriculture and Livestock Research (EMBRAPA, in Portuguese), in Brasilia, Brazil, April 29, 2010.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - Public Service Review

Seeding Diplomacy

| September 2011

"The rising concern over global food price volatility has put agriculture at the centre of international cooperation. But unlike the 1950s, when food aid became a major tool in international food policy, modern interactions among states are being redefined by globalisation and the associated knowledge flows. The interactions are part of a field that can be loosely referred to as agricultural diplomacy."

A Chery Riich M1 is seen at an auto show in Shanghai, China, 26 Apr. 2009. Leading private Chinese automaker Chery will set up a joint venture with the China-Africa Development Fund to further explore the car market in Africa.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - CNN

Asian Interest Means Africa Needs New Economic Vision

| August 31, 2011

"The surge in interest in Africa by China and India requires a different approach that does not view the continent as a helpless victim of foreign influence. To that end African countries are seeking to replace classical foreign policy that focuses on access to markets in return for raw materials with a new vision of economic diplomacy."

Director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Jose Graziano da Silva looks on during a press conference at the Itamaraty palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Aug. 3, 2011.

AP Photo

Magazine Article - Comments

AgroDiplomacy: Growing Relations between Latin America and Africa

| Julio-Agosto 2011

"The rising concern over global food price volatility has put agriculture at the center of international diplomacy. But unlike the 1950s when food aid became a major tool in international relations, modern interactions among states are being defined by trade and knowledge transfer. A new field — agricultural diplomacy (AgroDiplomacy) — is emerging as countries learn more about their shared ecological experiences and agricultural trade interests. The prospects for building such relations are evident in the rise in cooperation between Africa and Latin America."

Kenyan school children sit around a table to eat lunch at the Raila Education Center, part of a school feeding program in Kibera, Nairobi. Food prices are rising globally, driven in part by the higher transport costs that accompany rising oil prices.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - The Daily Nation

Stop Demonising Foreign Investors in Agriculture, They're Not Grabbing Land

| June 13, 2011

"Nearly 60 per cent of the world's available arable land is in Africa. What is needed is a vision among African leaders that would help the continent to contribute to global food needs while fostering local prosperity. Efforts to achieve this have already been started through foreign investments in agriculture."