62 Items

View of General Assembly at UN Global Engagement Summit

UN Photo

Discussion Paper - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Exponential Innovation and Human Rights

| Feb. 27, 2018

Technological innovation and the politics of global justice are two fields that interact quite extensively in international diplomatic discourse and public debate. Controversial issues, such as accessing essential medicines, reducing greenhouse gases, conserving biological diversity, providing clean energy, and expanding the adoption of green technologies, require answers at the intersection of technological innovation, international diplomacy, and global justice. Our approach is to start off with the broader understanding that justice is rights-based and then proceed to analyze it using a goal-based framework. This brings into sharp focus the relationships between innovation and human rights.

Nov. 23, 2016, a train returns from transporting ballast used in the construction of the Nairobi-Mombasa railway

AP Photo/Ben Curtis

Discussion Paper - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

African Regional Economic Integration

| Winter 2018

The power of Pan-Africanism as a guiding vision for the continent’s development is widely studied, mostly as an aspirational phenomenon. At worst, Pan-Africanism has often been seen as a poor imitation of American federalism or European integration. Both of these perceptions do not reflect the profound nature of the role that the ideology of Pan-Africanism played in shaping the continent’s economic transformation. 

teaser image

Analysis & Opinions - Quartz Africa

Let's Reinvent and Diversify Africa's Universities to Make Them Centers of Innovation

| August 25, 2016

"Creating innovation universities can be pursued through three practical stages. The first is to formulate a policy framework under which such universities operate. The second state is to translate the policy into specific legislative reforms to support the new university species. The third stage is to experiment by upgrading a few research institutes that have strong foundations and potential to commercialize products and services."

Analysis & Opinions - The Mark News

Cairo to Cape Town: New Free Trade 'Super Bloc' Huge for African Economy

| June 23, 2015

"The stage is now set for a new phase of industrial development. In fact, much of the intra-African trade that has been recorded over the last decade has come from growth in manufacturing. A liberalized continental market will help spur further industrial growth. This, combined with infrastructure investments and technology acquisition, will enable African firms to tap into global value chains, and will position Africa as a viable destination for new industrial investors."

Skyline of Boat Quay in Singapore, June 3, 2011. The cluster of skyscrapers in the right half of the photograph constitutes the Central Business District of Singapore.

Wikimedia CC 4.0

Analysis & Opinions - The Daily Nation

Africa Can Still Learn Important Lessons from Lee Kuan Yew's Work in Singapore

| March 24, 2015

"Lacking natural resources, the country was forced from the outset to adopt a long-term view that involved investing in human capital and imparting a strong work ethic. These are critical sources of economic transformation that continue to elude African countries. Their inability to focus attention on entrepreneurship, innovation, and management is partly a result of the excessive policy attention to the role of natural resources."

Dr. Mo Ibrahim at the Chatham House program, "Combating Global Corruption: Shared Standards and Common Practice?," 3 February 2014.

Wikimedia CC 2.0

Analysis & Opinions - The Daily Nation

Africa Needs More, Not Fewer, Governance Prizes

| March 5, 2015

"Mo Ibrahim has put a price tag on the quality of Africa's public leadership. The intensity of the debate shows that one prize is not enough. The time has come for Africans entrepreneurs to create more prizes to recognise, celebrate and inspire excellence in public leadership. That would be a more appropriate response to Mo Ibrahim's challenge."

Calestous Juma

Martha Stewart Photo

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

Pessimism of 20th-Century Global Policy Architects Stunted Developing Nations’ Economies

| March 26, 2014

Influential economic ideas first advanced in 1911 — stressing innovation and entrepreneurialism as the fundamental generators of growth and wealth — were deemed inappropriate for developing countries, stunting progress in many parts of the world throughout the 20th century, says a distinguished Harvard academic.

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.