UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT

East and Central Africa
law, emphasis is being laid on strengthening participatory
and inclusive democracy. There are programmes to develop
physical (transportation) and virtual (ICTs) connections to
domestic and foreign markets. Two key infrastructure projects
are under way, the construction of a dam at Imboulou (120 MW)
and the rehabilitation of the Congo Ocean railway.
Within a three-year agreement signed in December
2014, UNESCO is helping Congo to reinforce research
and innovation by mapping Congo’s STI ecosystem
and developing instruments to ensure better policy
implementation and a better status for researchers. One
obstacle to innovation has been the lack of awareness of
intellectual property rights, which has led to new knowledge
being patented by better-informed competitors (Ezeanya,
2013). In 2004, Congo had requested UNESCO’s support
for the development of a national science and technology 6
policy. This led to the adoption of an action plan for 2010–
2016. The new agreement reinforces existing programmes by
focusing on modernization and industrialization.
To reflect the importance accorded to STI, the Ministry of
Scientific Research and Technological Innovation has been
separated from the Ministry of Higher Education, the Ministry
of Primary and Secondary Education and the Ministry of
Technical and Vocational Education. In January 2012, the
Ministry of Scientific Research and Technological Innovation
entered into a partnership with the Congolese company
ISF Technologies to develop and integrate ICT solutions
with business intelligence to optimize the performance of
enterprises.
In Congo, university–industry ties tend to spring from
initiatives by individual universities to support small
enterprises. For example, the private non-profit ICAM School
of Engineering in Pointe-Noire and Douala established a
programme in November 2013 offering SMEs technical
support.
DJIBOUTI
Education a priority
Expenditure on public education accounted
for 4.5% of GDP in 2010. Schooling is free and seven out
of ten children now attend primary school, although the
ratio is higher for boys than for girls (Table 19.3). Until the
founding of the University of Djibouti in 2006, students had
to go abroad to study and could apply for a government
sponsorship, a situation which fostered brain drain. In May
2014, the university launched an e-campus in the presence of
6. For details of UNESCO’s work with the Republic of Congo since 2004, see the
UNESCO Science Report 2010.
the Minister of Higher Education and Research. The university
plans to organize an international seminar on geohazards
in early 2016. It is currently establishing an observatory to
monitor climate change in East Africa, in collaboration with
Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
in the USA.
Eight out of ten citizens work in the services sector, with
manufacturing accounting for just 2.5% of GDP in 2007
(Figure 19.2). Djibouti’s transformation into a modern
hub is increasingly dependent on how well it can acquire
technology from the global economy and adapt this to its
level of development. FDI comes mainly from the Middle East
and is high (19.6% of GDP in 2013) but tends to flow to the
country’s strategic port on the Red Sea. Investment projects
with the potential for technology transfer and local capacitybuilding
need strengthening. Greater statistical capability in
STI indicators would also help the government to monitor
improvements in this area.
Since joining the World Intellectual Property Organisation
in 2002, Djibouti has enacted a law on the Protection of
Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (2006) and a second law
on the Protection of Industrial Property (2009).
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
International commitment, little domestic
output
Founded in 1995, the National University of Equatorial Guinea
is the country’s main tertiary institution. It has faculties of
agriculture, business, education, engineering, fisheries and
medicine.
In 2012, President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo made funds
available for the UNESCO–Equatorial Guinea International
Prize for Research in the Life Sciences. In addition to
rewarding research undertaken by individuals, institutions
or other entities, the prize promotes the establishment and
development of centres of excellence in the life sciences. The
fact that the prize is international in character rather than
aimed at citizens of Equatorial Guinea has attracted criticism
within the country, which has high levels of poverty, despite
being classified as a high-income country thanks to its oil-rent
economy.
In February 2013, Equatorial Guinea applied to the African
Union to host the African Observatory for Science, Technology
and Innovation, the mandate of which is to collect data on
the continent’s STI capabilities. Having offered US$ 3.6 million
and being the only applicant, Equatorial Guinea won the bid.
Progress in establishing the facility has since been hampered
by various administrative and political obstacles.
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