UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT

UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT
COUNTRY PROFILES
The following section will be analysing the viability of
national innovation systems, in terms of their potential to
survive, grow and evolve. We shall be employing a broad
‘national innovation systems’ approach to examining the
interconnectedness of STI and development (Table 20.5).
ANGOLA
Progress in higher education, despite
governance issues
Angola is considered as having a viable national innovation
system (Table 20.5). The biggest obstacle to the country’s
development prospects lies in governance. Angola ranks
poorly on the Corruption Perceptions Index (161st out of
175) and Ibrahim Index of African Governance (44th out of
52, see Table 19.1). A recent UNESCO study has identified a
correlation between low scientific productivity and ineffective
governance (UNESCO, 2013).
Angola has the advantage of being minimally reliant on donor
funding for its investment needs, being the second-largest
oil producer in Africa after Nigeria and one of SADC’s fastestgrowing
economies (see Figure 19.1). It ranks in the top half
of SADC countries for GDP per capita and saw average annual
growth of almost 3% over the period 2008–2013. Angola’s
income inequality is relatively low among SADC countries but
it has a high poverty rate. It is deemed to have medium human
development.
Table 20.5: Status of national innovation systems in the
SADC region
Category
Fragile
Viable
Evolving
Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho,
Madagascar, Swaziland, Zimbabwe
Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia,
Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia
Botswana, Mauritius, South Africa
Note: National innovation systems can be analysed and categorized in terms
of their potential to survive, grow and evolve. The assessment of viability
thresholds is a complex exercise beyond the scope of the present chapter.
The authors nevertheless propose the present set of three categories for a
preliminary classification of national innovation systems in the SADC region.
Fragile systems tend to be characterized by political instability, whether
from external threats or internal political schisms. Viable systems encompass
thriving systems but also faltering ones, albeit in a context of political stability.
In evolving systems, countries are mutating through the effects of policy and
their mutation may also affect the emerging regional system of innovation.
Source: elaborated by authors
There have been concerns over the environmental impact
of oil exploration and extraction, particularly the effect of
offshore drilling on the fishing industry. Combined with the
uncertain sustainability of global oil prices and domestic
stocks, not to mention the fact that the oil industry does not
generate significant local employment, this concern led the
government to create a Sovereign Wealth Fund in 2012 to
invest profits from oil sales in the development of a number of
local industries, in an effort to diversify the country’s economy
and spread prosperity (AfDB, 2013).
Full data on R&D expenditure are unavailable but there are
few institutions performing research and the number of
researchers is low. The country’s KEI and KI values are the
lowest among SADC countries. In 2011, the Ministry of Science
and Technology published the National Policy for Science,
Technology and Innovation. The policy sets out to organize and
develop the national STI system, identify funding mechanisms
and to harness STI to sustainable development.
The prolonged civil war (1975–2002) not only left higher
education in a time warp but also caused many academics to
emigrate. Since the end of the war, the number of universities
has mushroomed from two (1998) to over 60 today with a
student roll of more than 200 000. In 2013, the government
launched a National Plan for Training Professionals. Moreover,
in a bid to anchor higher education in its development efforts,
Angola is hosting the Centre of Excellence for Science Applied
to Sustainability, which was established in 2011 and received
its first intake of students in 2013. The centre plans to produce
100 PhDs within a decade. The first of its kind in Africa, it
provides research and training on sustainable development
that is open to all Africans. The centre is located within the
University of Agostinho Neto in Luanda (SARUA, 2012).
BOTSWANA
Good governance
Along with Tanzania, Botswana has one of the
longest post-independence histories of political stability in
Africa. A multiparty democracy, it is deemed the continent’s
best-performing country by the Corruption Perceptions Index
(31st out of 175) and ranks third in Africa in the Ibrahim Index
of African Governance (see Table 19.1). Real GDP per capita
is relatively high and growing but the country nevertheless
ranks second in the SADC for inequality and there is
widespread poverty (Table 20.1). Botswana’s incidence of HIV
(18.5% of the population) is also among the highest in the
world, according to the Botswana AIDS Impact Survey of 2013.
Botswana is the world’s top producer of diamonds, in terms
of value. Despite being heavily reliant on the mining sector,
Botswana has escaped the ‘resource curse’ to a large extent
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