The run-up to the conference held on 27 January 2022
The conference on Research Excellence in Ethiopia Through North-South Collaborations took place on the 27th of January, 2022. The conference attracted many and diverse individuals. There were well over a hundred individuals attending all the three sessions of the conference.
In follow-up blogs, we will describe the outcomes and potential follow-ups of the conference. In this blog, we explain the motivation for the conference.
How did the conference start?
In 2011, discussions and meetings were held among the initiators (who are academicians and other stakeholders from the Netherlands, South Africa, Germany, and Ethiopia) in order to facilitate the participation of Ethiopian universities and other research institutes in the EU Horizon program funded research projects.
In the last meeting we held in 2021, we decided that the conference should focus on improving research excellence in Ethiopia. We concluded that North-South collaboration (the collaboration between universities and research institutes in Europe and Ethiopia) will help increase the quality and quantity of research outputs of Ethiopian research facilities.
However, research collaboration needs funding. The needed funding is fortunately being made available through the EU-AU (Europe-Africa) research and innovation partnership initiative. Unfortunately, the EU-AU initiative and the resulting research programs (through which funding for research collaboration is disbursed) involves a rather complex process. Therefore, we aimed at demystifying the process during the conference.
Basically, we wanted the conference to elaborate to the participants: (1) the EU-AU research collaboration/funding mechanisms, (2) the profile and experiences of a few selected European universities, (3) the profile and experiences of a few selected Ethiopian universities and research centers, and (4) how third-parties, such as funding advisory services and innovators, can help research excellence in Ethiopia.
Below we describe the EU-AU research collaboration and funding mechanisms which was a topic of the last preparatory meeting. The text below is based on the transcripts of that meeting.
AU-EU partnership and Ethiopia
The EU-AU inter-continental partnership aims to facilitate the realisation of the 2030 agenda of sustainable development defined by the UN and adopted by 193 Countries. The UN identified 17 sustainable development goals (often referred to as SDGs). One of its crucial SDG is strengthening the means of implementing the other, more specific, SDGs through revitalized global partnerships. That partnership involves, among others, investing in people; specifically, investing in education, science, technology, and skills.
Both AU and EU ministers acknowledge the need for skills development and equitable quality education that targets the needs of African current and future labour market needs. The ministers acknowledge research and innovation will help improve the quality of education, sustainability of socio-economic development, and boost societal resilience against crises. High-quality research underlies innovation and the realization of entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The AU-EU research and innovation ministerial meeting held in 2020 is making successful progress. The resulting research and innovation partnerships are supporting agriculture, food security, sustainable energy, climate research, health research, and innovation in Africa. The results of previous AU-EU meetings are reflected on the “Africa Initiative” launched on June 17, 2021. Several research projects are (or will be) funded through the Africa Initiative. The participation of research facilities from Africa is mandatory in most of those collaboration projects.
The upcoming EU-AU summit that will be held on the 17–18 of February 2022 is a platform where Ethiopian research facilities can influence what the focus of research collaboration between Europe and Africa should be. If Ethiopia exercises its influence, it can increase the participation of Ethiopian researchers in future research collaboration projects. So far, the participation of Ethiopian research institutions in the EU-funded projects is minimal, most probably because potential Ethiopian research partners were not (sufficiently) aware of how the EU research funding mechanism works.
AU-EU partnership mechanisms
The contribution of science to policy formulation is expected to be the focus of the upcoming EU-AU research partnership meetings. SDGs, climate change, climate finance, energy transition, fairer international tax system, COVID-19 pandemic, and pandemic prevention will also be important issues that will be addressed. These are issues that have been the focus of the UN, the AU, the EU and the G20. These topics were also the focus of the recent Climate Change Conference of the UN, COP26.
The results of the discussion at the AU-EU summit will be reflected in the EU’s policy decisions on EU-AU research collaboration mechanisms. These decisions will become tangible in the funding that will be made available through the Horizon Europe and the NDICI (Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument) programs.
These programs will make substantial funding available. Leading up to the summit, the goals were formulated and re-formulated. The talking points include: resilient education, research partnerships, SDGs, leaving no one behind, pandemics, climate change, (female) entrepreneurship, sustainable agricultural development, smart technologies (such as microprocessors and radio astronomy), public health including the manufacture vaccines in Africa, green transitions, technical and vocational skills, job creation, and digitalization (including big data, and AI and machine learning).
It is essential for Ethiopian universities and research organisations to understand the formal goals formulated by the UN, EU and AU; it is also essential to understand the various taking points. Ethiopians need to make the necessary preparations and exercise influence through the relevant ministries in the upcoming AU-EU continental partnership summit. During our preparatory meetings, participants noted that in the past Ethiopia was largely absent during such processes. Ethiopia should now strive to be part of the discussion that shapes the future of the EU-AU common research agenda.
