UNESCO supports African Regional Science, Technology and Innovation Forum
The second African Regional Science, Technology and Innovation Forum will take place in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe on 24th February 2020 under the theme, “2010-2030: A Decade to deliver a transformed and prosperous Africa through the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063”.
Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development will host the Forum that is co-organized with UNESCO, in collaboration with the African Union Commission and the Department of Science and Innovation of South Africa.
The Forum is designed to meet both the global and continental mandates. It will serve as a platform for exploring and facilitating interactions, matchmaking, cooperation and partnerships among the relevant stakeholders, in order to drive technology development and transfer, and create regional innovation networks for co-learning and co-creation, and for sharing of experiences between and among multi-stakeholders.
Furthermore, it will provide a platform to identify and examine technology needs and institutional voids and gaps that should be addressed to enable African countries to fully harness and deploy science, technology and innovation to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
These include scientific cooperation, innovation and capacity-building, as well as facilitation of the development, transfer and dissemination of relevant technologies for the Sustainable Development Goals. The Forum will also showcase efforts that the public, private sector and individuals deploy to accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals as well as how technologies, especially technologies developed in Africa, can contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063.
Zimbabwe’s Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development, Amon Murwira is expected to officially open the Forum.