At the Young Scientists roundtable in Nairobi on 8 December 2009, scientists from around Africa reported back on group discussions about different aspects of science, technology and innovation.

In the two hour session, the 18 young scientists first listened to an introduction to the New Manifesto project, an outline of the draft Manifesto, the 3D agenda and its basic recommendations by Dr Adrian Ely of the STEPS Centre. The group then discussed examples of existing initiatives that contribute to innovation for sustainability and development, and suggested some areas where the existing draft could be improved.

The young scientists then went into group discussions on the areas in which they worked – agricultural production, agricultural processing and enterprise, (bio)energy and science, technology and innovation policies (general).

They then fed back the results of the discussions in a plenary session, organised into the following themes:
– Key priorities (as they saw them) in their sector for ‘sustainability’ and ‘development’
– Examples of policies, institutions and initiatives that enable (3D) innovation for sustainability and development in their sector at national level / international level
– Recommendations for policies, institutions and initiatives that enable (3D) innovation for sustainability and development in their sector at national level / international level.

You can watch their presentations below:

Janine Chantson (South Africa) reports back on behalf of the ‘S&T Policies – General’ group

Patience Opata (Nigeria) reports back on behalf of the ‘Agricultural processing and enterprise’ group

Patience Ndhlovu (Zimbabwe) reports back on behalf of the ‘Agricultural production’ group

Jhonnah Mundike (Zambia) reports back on behalf of the ‘Bio-energy’ group

More about the conference

This roundtable was held as part of the 4th TWAS-ROSSA Young Scientists’ Conference.

The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) was established as a autonomous international organization in 1983 in Trieste, Italy, by a distinguished group of scientists from the South under the leadership of the late Nobel laureate Abdus Salam of Pakistan. It was officially launched by the secretary-general of the United Nations in 1985 and has since then assumed the mission to promote scientific excellence and capacity in the South for science-based sustainable development.