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• The President of Tanzania, H.E. Jakaya Kikwete announced recentlythat the Tanzanian Government will raise public investment in researchand development (R&D) from the current 0.3% to 1% of GDPin the 2009-2010 financial year. Tanzania is the first African countrywith a high disease burden to significantly increase its healthresearch budgets, for which we congratulate it, while encouragingother countries to follow suit.If we optimise the use and management of Africa’s wide range ofassets, they provide enormous opportunities for science, technologyand innovation-driven sustainable growth and development. Indeed,scientific knowledge and its proper use have always been criticalingredients for economic growth and today underpin the conceptof the Knowledge Economy, which is a multidimensional processinvolving context, culture, content, mechanisms, infrastructure andpolicy. It raises many possibilities for enhancing growth and competitivenessby increasing productivity in all sectors of the economy andby adding value to local raw materials and natural resources, but alsocarries the risks of marginalisation for countries and organisationsthat do not keep up with its momentum.Therefore, we in Africa must start relying on science, technology andmanagement to achieve scientific development, paying more attentionto resource saving and environmental protection and graduallynarrowing the development gap on this continent. From a long-termperspective, we should endeavour to build innovation societies bygradually shifting from the export of raw materials and products intothat of capital and knowledge.It is a fact that the economy can only sustain us today, however, scienceand technology may ensure our tomorrow, but only educationcan guarantee us the future.It is against this background that ECA boosted its activities in scienceand technology including by establishing the ICT, Science andTechnology Division. Some of ECA’s activities include a “Science withAfrica” Conference organised by ECA, African Union and our developmentpartners in March 2008. The event brought together scientists,researchers, government officials, private sector and the internationalcommunity to explore how STI can be of service to Africa asan engine for accelerated economic growth and poverty reduction.246 Part Five