TECHNOLOGY PLANNING Workshop

1
?? TECHNOLOGY PLANNING Workshop?? Nairobi,
24-27/02/2009 ROAD MAP for African countries
Technological Development
Dr.-Ing. Yves M. Lamour Consultant, Economic
Commission for Africa (UNECA) Executive
Director, Pan-African Institute for Technology
Development (PAITD)
2
1. Context of the endeavour

• In the past four decades, our energies have been
  directed towards economic planning, assuming
  that economic planning would take care of all the
  variables necessary for facilitating growth and
  progressive economic change.
• On the other hand, Development strategies have
  built on inadequate apprehensions of the economic
  system, and
• Strategies have neglected the technological
  dimensions of development, so vital in modern
  technology-driven economies/consumer societies.
• Thus need for Technology Planning

3
2. Failure of the rent economy and
development aid

• Portfolio of promoted solutions since end of
  colonial rule
• Trade
• on an externally controlled market, at
  unfavourable terms, resulting in poor returns of
  rent economies
• Development aid (bi/multilateral, international)
• with the unfulfilled promise of trickle-down
  benefits, technology transfer and capacity
  building
• IMFs Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP)
• Including privatisation of attractive national
  industrial assets, as condition for DC
  governments to access urgent loans
• IMFs Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility
  (PRGF)
• a slightly corrected version of SAP, paired with
  the Policy Support Instrument (PSI)
• Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA)
• the most recent trade policy framework of the
  member countries of the European Union (EU).
• Foreign Direct Investments (FDI)
• with variable results.

4
Logic of the failures Where do these
solutions come from?

• Fundamentally, priorities and development
  solutions have been suggested or imposed by the
  West
• Solutions have systematically focused on the use
  of Western resources (e.g. money, experts,
  know-how, equipment, etc.) not the development
  of African countries own capacities
• ltgtgt Incapacitation of African
  societies!
• Presently PRSP, MDG, privatisation,
• What is their hidden agenda? They have one!

5
Missed opportunities in the rent economy

• Opportunities through local/national/regional
  production
• Employment and human resources development
• Knowledge acquisition and development
• Knowledge captured in local industries/society
• National/regional capacitation cooperative
  development
• Development of supporting (social/technological)
  structures
• National/regional institutional development
• Entrepreneurial development
• Capital building
• Reduction of wealth transfer out of the continent
  
• Shifting of economic activity onto Africas
  regional markets
• Strengthening of African economic operators.
• gtgt Need for alternatives!

6
Difficulty of developing alternatives

• ltgt We are thinking in a Box!
• Goals and solutions are thought within an
  overtaken framework!
• Box of established social, economic,
  organisational values and priorities, and of
  social and economic mechanisms, etc.
• e.g. of possible/attainable, allowed or desirable
  concepts/goals and of affordable means
• This framework serves the interests of the
  designer and controller
• As a result, both the apprehension of the problem
  and the solution are often wrong, because thought
  of in such framework.
• for instance, solutions generally focus on use of
  others resources
• money, experts, know-how, equipment, etc.
• Development is often seen as the adequate use
  of such categories of resources.
•   gtgt Need for more effective development
  strategies !
• Need for rethinking development with a less
  inhibited mindset!
• e.g. rethinking development priorities,
  objectives and means.

7
Change management

• Redefine priorities and objectives
• Reframe actions
• Overcome resistance
• Obama Find the new drivers of the American
  economy!
• What should be the drivers for African societies?

8
Reframing Africas crisis

• Statement by Prof. A.M. Babu, Tanzania, London
  School of Economics
• (integrates factors behind Africas economic
  stagnation)
• Africans produce what they do not consume,
• and consume what they do not produce.
• i.e. Africas participation in world trade
  generally in most unfavourable terms.
• ltgtgt Africas crisis is also expressed as
• Dysfunctionality of African economies
• Disabling dependence on development aid
• Dependence on import of most basic commodities
• food, medicine, clothing, furniture, cement,
  books
• Threat to food security
• Drainage of skilled human resources brain
  drain,

9
CHARACTERISING ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES

• Rationale for production and Import
  Substitution
• Established with Babus statement. According to
  Prof. A.M. Babu
• We need to reorder our economic priorities,
  and prioritise internal needs food, clothing
  and shelter
• gradually shift away from poorly profitable
  trade in primary commodities, which deprives us
  from accumulating and investing for growth
• develop our productive forces
• In other words Development is empowerment!

10
Further characteristics of such economic
empowerment

• Adapted to the reality of African countries
• Labour-intensive, low-tech industrial production
• to match present low level of local
  technology skilled labour
• regional rather than national strategy
• in the context of the development of African
  regional markets
• Favourable framework of regional economic
  integration and cooperation ? e.g. ECOWAS, SADC,
  etc.
• Right base for mutually supporting national
  industrial productions and successful
  implementation of import substitution.

11
Asian countries operationalisation strategy

• Focus on developing national capacities
• Goals/Targets
• 1st Phase Import Substitution gt Focus on
  local market!
• With development of low-technologies and on
  capacity building (building on the existing base)
• 2nd Phase High-tech commodity Export
• Development of high-technology capacities.
• Leadership role of responsible and dedicated
  Governments
• Strong cooperation between governments and the
  private sector.
• Public-private-partnerships Instruments
  for driving technological adaptation and market
  development.

12
TECHNOLOGY PLANNING STRATEGY

• Technology Planning should be part of Development
  Planning
• Development needs to be understood and planned as
  socio-economic empowerment
• Pragmatic approach to Technology Planning
• Build on the the existing technological
  base
• gtgt Research aspect should focus on
  developing adaptation strategies for known
  technologies

13
STEPS OF AN OUTCOME-BASED PLANNING
14

• Identify desired outcomes/objectives
• Identify/Determine activities/strategies
• Identify needed/available resources
• Identify Actors and determine their roles
• Operationalise

15
3.1 IDENTIFYING DESIRED OUTCOMES

• Activities has to be the result of a logical
  process
• First things first
• Build on what is there!
• gtgt The direction of technological development in
  a country can only build on existing
  infrastructure, available HR, existing level of
  technology
• Build/import capacities in planned development
  areas
• Technological development viewed as organic
  growth
• Constantly think next steps ahead, build
  complementarity gt Synergy
• gt E.g. Build supportive capacities,
  clusters of connex initiatives Issue
  conducive/supportive policy, etc.

16
Procedere

• Conduct an integrated situational analysis,
  including a Technological Production Capacity
  Assessment
• An In-depth analysis of the various variables
  existing capacities, actors, development
  priorities, human resources development,
  research, enterprise/industrial development, ICT
  development, etc.
• Rethink development priorities and goals
• Set criteria for determining specific objectives
• Set objectives/goals SWOT Analysis!

17
Priorities

• First things first
• Food security
• Environmental protection
• Employment
• Infrastructure development (water, energy, roads,
  telecommunication, IT)
• Economic empowerment!
• Capital building

18
Objectives

• Import substitution gtgt Improvement of
  import/export balance
• Increase production/productivity
  (agricultural/food, artisanal and industrial)
• gtgt Support enterprise development
• gtgt Create employment (particularly for young
  people)
• Build human resources capacity (in particular in
  technologies)
• gtgt Develop training infrastructures
• ( School, vocational training, university,
  research, )
• Build knowledge management capacity including
  research
• Develop industries (as first, agro-industries )
• Reframe peoples mindset! (? cultural dimension
  of development)

19
Import Substitution gt Characteristics

• Labour-intensive, low-tech industrial production
• to match present low level of local
  technology skilled labour
• Regional rather than national strategy
• in the context of the development of
  African regional markets
• Favourable framework of regional economic
  integration and cooperation ? e.g. ECOWAS, SADC,
  etc.
• Right base for mutually supporting national
  industrial productions and successful
  implementation of import substitution.

20
3.2 DETERMINATION OF PLANNING ACTIVITIES

• ltgtgt Criteria for the choice of activities
• Needs
• Available/accessible/developable resources
• e.g. infrastructures, HR, financial resources,
  know-how,
• Level of existing technical development

21
ltgtgt Criteria for the choice of activities

• Needs
• Available/accessible/developable resources
• e.g. infrastructures, HR, financial resources,
  know-how,
• Level of existing technical development

22
1. Production

• Anticipated areas for production / and for R?D
• a) Food security/ Food self-sufficiency
• Water supply
• Agriculture/Food production
• Processing of agricultural products/Food.
• b) Medicinal and Health products
• Pharmaceutical production
• Herbal/traditional medicine
• Cosmetics/Hair skin care.
• c) Environment Regenerative energy
  technologies
• Solar technology (with polymers)
• Biodiesel..?

23

• d) Clothing and Furniture
• Clothing/ Textile
• Leather goods/ shoe sandals
• Quality wooden furniture
• e) Construction and household goods
• Tools for agriculture construction
• Household equipment/kitchen utensils
• Plastics
•  f) Information and communication technologies
  (ICT).

24
2. Enterprise development

• Government support for setting of start-ups
• But also for improving firms productivity
• Problems Financing, Competitiveness,
• Role of Banks
• Advantageous Clusters/Industrial parks
• Agriculture and the fishery industry
• Food processing
• Cameroon Programme for returnees/young
  entrepreneurs

25
3. Strategies for outward knowledge acquisition
(Knowledge management)

• Academic training gt Problem time, access
• Technology transfer
• Financial procurement (license, )
• Research
• (Industrial espionage)
• Towards a systematic approach PAITD
• Resource Centre (knowledge acquisition/management)
  
• Project with ECA State of Africas Production
• Identification of potentials
• Conduct of preliminary feasibility studies

26
4. Capacity building

• Formal education, academic training, specialised
  training
• Korea! gt vocational strengthen the base (for
  production)
• Capacity building on the job In-service
  training
• Can the African Diaspora help?
• Brain drain Extent and impact on African
  economies
• Overcoming brain drain A scale issue?
•  
• Accent on vocational training / Practicals
  (Gov., NGOs, private sector)
• Potential areas of activity
• Food processing
• Furniture
• Civil engineering construction
• Sanitation
• Car mechanics
• Solar technology

27
5. Research (Knowledge management)

• Museveni Need for RD in Africa
• But research should be result-oriented!
• Prerequisites for research at national level
• Equipped academic centres
• Skilled human resources
• Financial resources
• Cooperation Regional/universities/research
  institutions/
• Research coordination
• Publications
• Capacity Repatriation of Diasporan Africans?
• Determining areas of research and follow up
• Market-driven/Needs
• UNECA/PAITD Project The State of Productive
  Africa
• Issue Financing research.

28
3.3 IDENTIFYING NEEDED/AVAILABLE RESOURCES

• Constraints to Africas economic development
• Unfavourable terms of trade in the rent economy
• Chronic indebtedness
• Dependence on aid and external priorities
• Dependence on IMFs conditions, etc.
• Lack of capital
• Market
• Price competitiveness
• Lack of skilled human resources/ Brain drain
• Lack of know-how
• Lack of a culture of production
• gtgt Missed development of supportive structures
• Limited commitment towards the wider community/
  Corruption
• Inadequate use of personal resources
• Extended family-Syndrome! gtgt Reduced
  savings!

29
Resources overview

• Government budget
• Financial institutions (banks, insurance co., )
• Private sector assets (knowledge, HR, equipment,
  )
• FDI
• HR Capacity Building Institutions
• Research institutions
• Other Institutions which acquire and disseminate
  knowledge
• Regional markets
• Diasporan African resources

30
Brain drain

• Growing demand and competition for talent in OECD
  countries
• Migration of African intellectual capital
• Migration of Africans with only primary education
  is almost nil
• More than 21 000 Nigerian doctors practicing in
  the United States alone
• Since 1990, the highly educated Diaspora of
  developing countries has doubled in size.
• Rate for graduates in science and technology is
  the highest.
• Case Graduates of the elite Indian IITs living
  abroad ranged from 20 to 30 in the 1980s and
  1990s.
• International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
  estimates
• Some 300 000 professionals from the African
  continent live and work in Europe and North
  America.

31
Consequences of brain drain for African
economies

• Loss in investment by governments
• Lower capacity of Public Administration
• Insufficient capacity of training institutions
• Hindrance to industrial development
• Migration of qualified labour reflects negatively
  on its investment climate.

32
Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) A critical
look

• Context of poor dynamics of immature African
  markets
• Governments set infrastructural and incentive
  framework for attracting foreign capital
• Means of financing projects, creating employment,
  and providing the motor for African societies
  development
• In other words, others should come and
  stimulate development
• However, generally no structured plan for
• step-by-step HR capacity building
• Transfer of know-how
• Consolidated development of local resources
• Import substitution.

33

• Fact is however
• Foreign investors want quick wins in risky
  business in Africa
• They do not readily invest in countries
  industrial development
• They generally go for unproductive areas with
  minimum commitments to HR development and
  employment.
• Most avoid technology transfer to maintain market
  control.
• Besides, FDI do not cause local capital building
• FDI result in massive dividend transfers out of
  Africa
• FDI can constitute dis-incentives to local
  enterprises, as foreign companies are generally
  given costs, tax and market advantages over local
  investors.
• Thus, FDI should be implemented only in
  well-studied cases
• when real gains are expected
• for instance tapping targeted knowledge from
  hosted companies (China, Japan, Singapore)
• substantial employment and human resources
  development.

34
Development of African regional markets and
South/South cooperation

• Production ventures better planned at regional
  rather than national level
• African regional markets
• mutually supporting local industrial
  production and employment
• Problem of competitiveness!
• Regional economic integration ? e.g. ECOWAS,
  SADC, etc.
• favourable framework for mutually supporting
  national industrial productions and for
  successfully implementing import substitution
  strategies
• (making use of availability of human and natural
  resources, advantages of regional specialisation,
  effects of scale, etc.)

35
Mobilisation of African human resources in the
Diaspora

• Technical assistance programmes
• Temporary involvement of highly skilled African
  Diasporan HR
• in technical assistance programmes (brain
  circulation)
• Support to research
• Support to capacity building (universities,
  vocational training, )
• Assistance in conceptualising industrial
  production ventures
• Coaching start-ups
• Advising in national/regional task force boards.
•  
• Repatriation strategies
• areas where permanent strengthening of African
  economies and institutions is wanted, and where
  permanent investments are planned.
• Ideally designed in conjunction with African
  regional and national bodies
• as components of mature industrial development
  strategies.

36
Mobilisation of African financial resources in
the Diaspora

• The magnitude of remittances now brings a new
  dimension into African economies
• Transfers to African countries, estimated to US
  70 billion in 2006
• Transfers surpass by far development aid from
  Northern countries
• Remittance amounts are expected to steadily and
  significantly increase in the next decades.
• However, remittances are not sufficiently
  channelled towards financing production ventures
  in Africa
• More the case in Asia!

37
3.4 OPERATIONALISATION

• Sequence activities logically / Building blocks
  approach/ Create synergies gt Capacity building
• Prepare Operationalisation Plans for identified
  key strategic projects/activities including
  production strategies/projects strategies for
  capacity building/HR development research
  strategies for strengthening production capacity
  and supporting marketing of local products quick
  monitoring/evaluation adjustment strategies,
  etc.
• Plan expansion and diversification of
  activities together with development of
  capacities
• Define timescales
• Schedule and assign resources
• Set up a sensible and flexible ME and Adjustment
  system
• Examine critical issues risk analysis, gender
  considerations/impact, cultural considerations,
  work ethics/habits and community mobilisation,
  etc.

38
Roles of the various stakeholders/ Actors

• Government
• Business sector
• Civil society organisations/ motivated
  Individuals
• Public-private-partnerships
• African Diaspora
• African regional institutions
• International organisations
• AU/UNECA

39
1. Role of Governments

• Establish adequate/Improve infrastructure
• Develop policies/provide incentives for
• supporting local enterprise development
• protecting local production
• attracting interesting foreign enterprises (in
  targeted areas)
• supporting employment
• supporting capacity building
• supporting result-oriented research
• Create incentive packages to attract/maintain HR
  in key areas
• Stimulate the formation of PPPs, when
  advantageous

40
2. Role of the Private Sector

• Invest in local production
• Support capacity building e.g. in-service
  training
• Participation in infrastructure development
• Activate government support
• Supportive Bank policies

41
3. Role of Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP)

• Generally instigated by Governments
• Two main types
• services providers (PPP1)
• support to industrial development (PPP2)
• Forms of the latter (PPP2)
• Champions (Korea)
• Clusters of industrial companies (Singapore)
• Cooperation with technical universities/research
  centres
• Young entrepreneurs Fora, etc

42
Purposes of PPP2

• Platform for governments to know problems of
  industries
• For support with relevant/effective
  policies/strategies
• Avoid destructive inner competition
• Instead, creation of a framework for mutually
  profitable cooperation
• e.g. planning of foreign market penetration
• encourage win-win sharing of technological
  knowledge
• sharing of technological resources, reducing
  costs
• Entrepreneurs Fora
• Discuss problems/constraints, needs, requests
  to government
• Pool resources
• Design common strategies
• Cluster of complementary industries/sharing
  resources
• Involve banks and relevant research institutions
  
• Consortium Industry-Scientists-Banks-/Diaspo
  ra.

43
4. African regional cooperation

• Operationalise Technology Planning Strategy in
  cooperation with ECA
• Support regionalisation of technical cooperation
  and market integration

44
5. Role/Importance of the Diaspora

• Example ISRAEL
• Diaspora is everything
• Remittances, political support, technology
  transfer
• Example INDIA
• Diaspora contributes to over 25 of GNP
• Transfer of knowledge
• Investments in technology sector
• AFRICA
• Remittances around US 70 billion/year
• Mostly to improve living conditions of family in
  home country
• Investments in Trade and Real estate
  (gtrent/retirement)
• Limited contribution to investment in production

45
6. Role of AU/UNECA

• Contribute to a vision of change
• Develop a strategies for action (and performance
  measurement/ adjustment) in cooperation with
  conducive institutions
• Advocate/Disseminate strategies and good
  practices
• Assist governments/policy makers in
  operationalising Technology Planning
  Strategy/Framework
• Set a platform for cooperation between
  Governments and non-state actors.
• Eventually, provide assistance to regional
  initiatives in
• Knowledge management/Research
• Capacity building
• ICT
• Diasporan resources mobilisation 

46
CONCLUDING REMARKS

• Technology Planning alone is not the solution to
  African countries problem(s)
• Socio-economic dimension of technological
  development
• Socio-cultural dimension of technological
  development gt resistances, mindset
• How serious are we about African development?
  Axelle Kaboue Fire fighting Power games and
  corruption Europe/West now China
• ltgtgt Responsibility of development

47
How is it that Africa is behind, and has not
achieved what the Asians have done?

• Do we really want development?
• How do we understand development?
• Do we believe that we can do it? And are we
  ready to pay the price?
• Is anything stopping us?
• How do we overcome this resistance to change?
• We need to stop excusing or even praise our poor
  performances
• We need and should strive to control our lives,
• and be great.
• We can do it!