The Science, Technology and Innovation sector is developing a strategic plan that envisions a region where science, technology and innovation drive sustainable social and economic development, alleviate poverty and disease, and underpin the creation of employment opportunities and wealth. Its mission aims to promote regional cooperation through and in the development, mastery and transfer of science, technology and innovation by allocating, developing and securing appropriate resources, and developing and strengthening national systems of innovation.
It is being formulated and grounded on the foundation laid by the RISDP principles and guidelines. This plan will go a long way to pave the way for science and technology to form part and parcel of engagements within the region. It will enable the SADC protocol on science, technology and innovation to move from conception and birth stage to inception, growth and implementation.
The heart of this plan pertains to objectives, strategies and activities thought to be the cornerstone of regional engagement on STI. It covers seven objectives that will be driving regional collaboration as well as the strategies to achieve such objectives. A number of activities envisaged are also covered in detail to ensure that they are aligned with strategies and objectives. The suggested indicators and timelines will be instrumental in guiding the region to enable it to function in line with the articulated objectives and strategies. They will also allow Member States to compare their performance with earlier on articulated goals and objectives and be guided whether they are meeting the objectives, and if not, what corrective measures they have to put in place in order to deal with the undesired state and course of action.
This plan further outlines the strategic intent of the SADC region and details programme of cooperation that will concretize regional engagement. It seeks to dovetail activities on various stakeholders such as the African Union/New partnership for Africa's Development, other Regional Economic Communities (RECs), UNESCO, the European Union (EU) and many other international stakeholders. It also touches on other regional networks such as Southern African Network of Biosciences (SANBio) that are regarded as centres of excellence as they will be playing a critical role in the implementation phase.
Reference is made to regional indicators that are still not clearly defined but that will be looked at as the plan develops. It assumes that the indicator section will develop as Member States work together going forward and makes mention of scanty information available from studies that have been commissioned by Southern African Universities Association (SARUA). According to SARUA study series 2007, the majority of the science systems in the region produce negligible scientific output. In many of these countries, the total annual output for the country is less than that of an active laboratory or university department in many other developed science systems. Few if any of SADC countries have achieved the target of an arbitrary 1% expenditure of GDP on R&D. With such low investment on R&D, STI institutions in the region will find it a challenge to discharge their responsibilities as they are not adequately resourced to function optimally.
SARUA has commissioned further studies that encapsulate the STI landscape in the region. One other important baseline study is study series 2008 on "Higher education in the SADC Region". Chapter 4 of this study deals primarily with the state of public science in the SADC Region. Amongst other things, it compares how each Member State fares in relation with the other with a view of identifying challenges and gaps to be addressed by policies that are formulated. More importantly, it highlights the decline in scientific research and recommends intra-regional collaboration, increased funding for science from within SADC, strengthened research management capacity, student and staff mobility, focus on regional journals as well as comprehensive account of the state of scientific research in SADC.
Lastly, the plan looks at the extensive involvement of Member States in terms of monitoring and evaluation, institutional mechanisms and governance as well as guiding principles. This is important to ensure appropriate accountability on objectives and activities detailed in this plan.