The 5th AfricaLics International Conference is being held at the opportune time as the African economies recover from post COVID-19 impact while still struggling to attain sustainable development. The impact of COVID, but also the undesirable environmental and social effects, including climate change and excessive socio-economic inequalities have challenged the traditional narrow focused innovation models of growth. This means that the debates around the role of science, technology and innovation (STI) in shaping the future of African countries will inevitably shift, post COVID. Such debates are very crucial for the African region that hosts more than half of the least developed countries in the world; and which will (according to the UN) see its population doubling to 2.4 billion people by 2050. Further, the discussion is crucial for better understanding of innovation and the need for development of capabilities, which can help foster sustainable industrialization and development in a manner that respects the planetary boundaries. This means that Africa cannot escape discussions regarding how to combine the need for economic growth with the need for more environmentally and socially sustainable developments paths. It also raises key questions around: How can the Innovation and Development community help to further develop concepts and strategies that deal with external shocks while keeping the focus on SDGs?
Background
Location and Objective
The 5th AfricaLics Conference will be hosted by University of Yaoundé II with Pan-African University, Institute for Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences (PAUGHSS) a local partner.
The conference intends to bring together up to 100 – 150 PhD students, early careers and established researchers and scholars from different disciplines with the overall aim of enhancing the quality of innovation studies in relation to development and growth in Africa.
The conference specifically aims at providing a space for presentation and discussion of research findings and for networking between researchers working in the field of innovation and development. It constitutes part of the AfricaLics efforts to build research capacity in Africa with strong links to users including policy makers and the private sector.
The main objectives of this conference are:
- To present and discuss state of the art research in the field of innovation and development in Africa with focus on the promotion of sustainable industrialization.
- To provide a much needed arena for researchers in Africa, particularly early career researchers, to build capacity in presenting and networking skills as well as learning about new methods and theories.
- To promote networking and create space for new collaborations amongst researchers in the field of innovation and development focusing on Africa.
- To build capacity to teach high quality, fit for purpose, curricula in the field of innovation and development in Africa.
The conference will be held over three days. The first and the second days will involve keynotes addresses and presentation of research papers in parallel tracks with panel discussions and plenary lectures. The third day will be devoted to learning and networking through workshops and collaborative research facilitation events. A draft programme will be posted on the conference web site in August/September 2022.