A growing number of Asian women are making inroads in science and technology, thanks to greater opportunities for career development and changing cultural mores. Interviews with female scientists across the region reveal that policies and laws that promote gender parity and equal opportunities, alongside changing cultural perceptions on women’s roles, more supportive families and the […]
Developing countries missed out on a chance to use novel 20th century development ideas to move their economies forward, says a distinguished African scholar. Calestous Juma, a professor of the practice of international development at the US-based Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, says “pessimistic” architects of early international development and institutions […]
Until recently, it was impossible to access services such as genetic testing for sickle-cell anaemia, prenatal and neonatal testing, DNA fingerprinting and forensic research in Nigeria. Now, a new facility at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) allows researchers to carry out genetic analysis with multiple benefits, ranging from disease prevention to agricultural research. […]
Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST), located in the southern region’s tea-growing district of Thyolo, opened its doors to the first batch of students last month (31 March), ten years after it was proposed.Read more […]
Read More… from Malawi finally opens science and tech university
Several developing nations have mooted the idea of funding public research with a tax on or royalties from natural resources, such as oil, but only a few appear to have made good on their promise. Nigeria’s 2006 proposal to use oil revenues to set up a US$5 billion endowment fund for science and technology seems to have gone nowhere. […]
Firms in Kenya are using secrecy instead of patents to protect their valuable ideas and innovations, according to preliminary results from a World Bank study, and this is hampering collaboration and creativity in the country. Read more […]
Read More… from Secrecy among Kenyan firms may be impeding innovation
European countries contribute less to global technological development than other developed nations, and are pursuing intellectual property policies that are not “development friendly”, according to a study. Read more […]
Read More… from EU criticised for failure to transfer technology
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is further “ramping up” its commitment to placing science and technology at the heart of development with the launch today of a major innovation partnership. Bringing together a wide range of actors, including businesses, universities and NGOs, the US Global Development Lab (GDL) will help create and spread science-based solutions to […]
Read More… from US innovation partnership aims to end extreme poverty
A ‘new education’ is needed to adapt and respond to the challenges of the Anthropocene, says Heila Lotz-Sisitka. The world in which we live, teach and learn is changing rapidly. Species, along with the ecosystem services that benefit humans, are being lost at record rates. Most scientists agree that without appropriate mitigation we are facing […]
Read More… from Radically reshaping higher education for the future
The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is to launch a project to help build policymakers’ capacity to implement science and innovation fostering plans in developing countries. The move was prompted by the agency recognising that many developing countries were struggling to implement the recommendations it issues as part of its reviews of nations’ science, technology and innovation policies. Read […]
Read More… from UN to launch innovation training for governments