Governance of Technology
Entrepreneurship and Governance of Science, Technology and Innovation
Project 1: Citizen participation in STI governance
Increased public engagement in decision-making helps to improve governance and regulation in general and of science and technology, in particular. The projects on citizen participation in STI governance will:
(i) Examine the impacts of entrepreneurship on governance as well as interrogate the tensions between ordinary citizens and experts in the governance and regulation of science with a special focus on ICTs, renewable energy; nuclear power and biotechnology (particularly GMOs) and genomic sciences.
(ii) Explore how standard quantitative approaches to risk assessment influence environmental and technology policy decision-making and whether or not these approaches to risk assessment fully address citizen's concerns about the dangers inherent in these technologies.
(iii) Focus on the shift of regulatory power from the social science/policy domains to the production domain occasioned by the increasingly technical nature of the platform technologies such as biotechnology, nuclear science and material science and investigate whether such power shifts have led to tension between the social sciences/policy domains and the bio-physical sciences, and if so, how are such tensions manifested and how are
they managed? What impact, if any, are such tensions having on service delivery?
(iv) Examine the institutional and organizational aspects and relationships amongst the different actors involved in governance of science and technology.
Project 2: Policy Instruments for supporting Science, Technology and Innovation: Tracking progress towards attaining long-term development visions in Africa
Science, technology and innovation have been recognized by many African countries as the foundation of long-term development. Many countries have crafted long-term development plans spanning 20 years or more for example, Kenya's Vision 2030 and Zimbabwe's Vision 2020. Most of these long-term visions are underpinned by science, technology and innovation as their foundation upon which all the other pillars are erected. While this recognition is fundamental to the realization of the country's target of becoming middle-income economies, it
is equally important that these declarations are followed keenly by action from the government (foremost), the private sector; development partners; the civil society and other stakeholders.
This project seeks to review the main forms of support and stimulation for innovation being undertaken by the government (particularly) and the various players. The project will demonstrate the evolution and trends of the various forms of support in line with the government's declarations and policy frameworks. By so doing, we hope to create a series of benchmarks and indicators against which to continually assess the governments' efforts
towards realizing their long-term development plans. In the absence of clarity on the type/forms of measures being undertaken to realize the dream, it becomes difficult to track progress and advise on policy changes required in order to attain the Visions.