Scientific research will not be a separate priority under the next action plan of the Joint Africa-European Union Strategy (JAES), due to be approved this week, but observers say science will play a strong role in the relationship between both continents.
The JAES’s second action plan (2011-2013) defined eight priority areas, including energy, peace and security, and a theme called “science, information society and space”. The number of priority areas will be cut down to five under the next incarnation of the plan, scheduled to run from 2014 to 2017. Science will feature under a "human development" heading, as well as under a "global and emerging areas" theme, which covers climate change, for example.
These changes are “not contentious” and there is an understanding “on both sides” that they will improve the existing set-up, says an EU official. The shift mirrors the European Commission’s own decision to focus a large part of its research funding on solving global challenges instead of keeping science in a separate box, the official adds.
“The architecture of cooperation is changing, but science is not in a worse position than before,” agrees another source close to the negotiations. At the EU-Africa summit, to be held in Brussels later this week, heads of state and government are expected to adopt two documents: a political declaration and a roadmap that will pave the way for the third action plan. The draft documents make “ample reference” to the role of science, the source says.
But there is some concern about how reshuffling JAES priorities will affect research and innovation activities, says Stéphane Hogan, science counsellor at the Delegation of the EU to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. “My view is that this can work out provided that research and innovation is given a prominent place in the new set up, for instance in a broader growth or development pillar,” Hogan tells Research Africa. “However, if it is relegated to a minor place in one or other pillar, then we will have to struggle to maintain its visibility and impact."
The draft text on science, seen by Research Africa, mentions that “investments in science, technology and innovation are vital to promote growth and employment,” adding that both sides will set up “joint academic research programmes, with a special focus on innovation and the productive sector including research infrastructures.” The draft also confirms intentions to set up a research and innovation partnership on food, nutrition security and sustainable agriculture, as agreed at a meeting in Brussels last November.
The 4th EU-Africa Summit will take place in Brussels on 2-3 April, after previous summits in Cairo (2000), Lisbon (2007) and Tripoli (2010). It brings together leaders from national governments, as well as from pan-European and pan African institutions.