Articles

12 Items

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Magazine Article - The Conversation

Lessons from 'The New Harvest' on How Academics Can Turn Their Work into Policy

| December 8, 2016

"The goal of the book was to invest in thinking. It doesn't have a list of recommendations but generates options for action that are backed by evidence. We chose to forgo credit by adopting this approach, but it’s been very encouraging to see some key impacts that acknowledge the book."

Goods are stacked in containers destined for global distribution at the harbor in Cape Town, South Africa, June 24, 2016. Stock markets crashed, oil prices tumbled, and the pound fell to a 31-year low as Britain's vote to leave the EU shocked investors.

AP

Journal Article - Europe'sWorld

Reshaping Europe's Africa Policies

| Autumn 2016

"Africa's economic diplomacy will be dramatically shaped by the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) negotiations that will conclude in 2017. This builds on the Tripartite Free Trade Area covering 26 countries with 650 million people and a GDP of US$1.5 trillion. The CFTA will comprise a billion people with an initial GDP of $3 trillion. The foundations of the agreement include free trade, infrastructure development and industrialisation. This is a grand opportunity that will shape Africa's relationships with the UK, Europe and the rest of the world."

Rural Energy Workshop in Hon, Benin

CC Flickr

Magazine Article - DW

Economic Factors Driving Africa's Climate Innovation

    Author:
  • Sonia Phalnikar
| June 11, 2013

"In an email interview with Global Ideas, [Calestous] Juma touches on the challenges and opportunities raised by climate change in Africa, the economic drivers behind a rash of innovations, the role of African universities and why dogma is holding back the continent's full research potential."

Magazine Article - Knowledge for Development

Innovation: Applying Knowledge in Development

| April 10, 2013

In this new lead article, Prof. Calestous Juma, Harvard University and Prof. Yee-Cheong Lee, UNESCO, reflect on the progress made since the UN Millennium Project's Task Force report on science, technology and innovation (ST&I) was published. In 2005, the Task Force released the report Innovation: applying knowledge in development. It outlined a number of ways in which ST&I could be used to realize the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The authors claim that the report has played a key catalytic role in raising global awareness of the importance of ST&I in development.

The kernels on the left are conventional white maize kernels. The maize kernels on the right are enhanced with a provitamin A trait using biotechnology. This maize would benefit Africa where millions of children suffer from vitamin A deficiency.

AP Photo

Newspaper Article - The East African

Africa Needs to Invest More in 'Life Sciences' to Benefit from Technology

    Author:
  • Steve Mbogo
| August 18, 2012

Africa is yet to adopt full scale technology-led development. Steve Mbogo spoke to the Director of the Belfer Center's Science, Technology, and Globalisation Project and professor at Harvard University Calestous Juma on the opportunities that await the continent as a late comer.

South African President Jacob Zuma, center, holds talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao (unseen) in Beijing, July 18, 2012. Zuma was in Beijing to attend the 5th Ministerial Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

AP Photo

Magazine Article - CAIJING Annual Edition: Forecasts and Strategies

The China-Africa Bond: Science, Technology and Engineering Diplomacy

| 2012

"The challenge is finding an entry point for fostering science, technology and engineering cooperation between China and Africa. An obvious starting point is agriculture. There are two reasons for this suggestion. First, agricultural transformation was one of the first major programs launched by China after the adoption of the 1982 constitution."

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.

Nibima is a low-cost antimalarial that is an extract of <em>Cryptolepis sanguinolenta</em>, a traditional plant in Ghana. It is in need of clinical trials.

Photo by Ken Simiyu

Journal Article - BMC International Health and Human Rights

African Health Innovation Systems: Preface

| December 2010

"These papers offer important lessons that can help to guide Africa and its international partners to complement 20th century policies on access to essential medicines and technology with 21st century approaches that focus on building health innovation systems. Those who take this route will find these papers highly valuable and timely."  

Journal Article - Science

Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being

| January 25, 2008

"I would urge every scientist and engineer with an interest in the intersection of S&T with sustainable well-being...to 'tithe' 10% of your professional time and effort to working in these and other ways to increase the benefits of S&T for the human condition and to decrease the liabilities. If so much as a substantial fraction of the world's scientists and engineers resolved to do this much, the acceleration of progress toward sustainable well-being for all of Earth's inhabitants would surprise us all."