Congress of African Scientists and Policymakers Alexandria, Egypt 27-29 October 2006 Rationale Objectives of the Congress Themes of the Congress Date and Venue Categories of Participants Programme of work Confirmation of Participation Sponsored scientists Non-sponsored scientists

1. RATIONALE

The January 2007 Summit of Heads of States and Governments, which will take place in Addis Ababa, has been assigned a unique theme, “ Science, Technology and Research for Africa's Development”. This is a milestone achievement for African scientists, technologists, policy makers and all stakeholders to convince the leadership that science and technology is an effective weapon against abject poverty and underdevelopment. The Heads of State and Government will have focused discussions on the role of science and technology (S&T) in socio-economic development of Africa. African scientists and policy makers should grab this opportunity to make practical contributions and recommendations for consideration at this forthcoming summit.

In preparation of the summit a number of activities are planned to take place. The aim of these activities is to prepare recommendations for the Summit to consider and to sensitise the public focus. The activities include the Congress of African Scientists and Policy Makers , that will take place in Alexandria, Egypt, from 27 to 29 October 2006. The Congress will bring together Africa's leading scientists, executives and decision-makers from industry, research institutions, government and academia to discuss fundamental topics in science and technology for socio-economic development of our continent.

This Congress presents a rare opportunity for S&T policymakers and S&T practitioners to have dialogue on the role of Science, Technology and Research in the economic development of Africa. It will create a space for creative thinking on development and utilization of S&T. It will also provide opportunity for African scientists to share experiences with countries that have successfully used S&T for their economic development such as India, Brazil, China and Finland.

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE CONGRESS

• To provide a platform for discussion between S&T practitioners and policy makers on the development of S&T in the continent.
• To create a common platform for focused discussion on factors affecting the development of S&T in Africa.
• To make recommendations on the above issues and get endorsement from the Science and Technology Ministers and ultimately the Heads of State and Government

3. THEMES OF THE CONGRESS

The Working Groups are expected to produce recommendations for the Heads of State and Government to consider at their summit in January 2007. These recommendations will be drawn from the themes below.

Theme 1: African solutions for African challenges through S&T

The Breakaway session for this theme will deliberate on the following major points:

• Building a culture of S&T Innovation
• Documentation, Protection and the Development of Indigenous Knowledge systems and Technologies
• Community outreach and popularisation of S&T

Theme 2: Growing and Sustaining African Human Capital

The Breakaway session for this theme will deliberate on the following major points:

• Increasing the numbers of students who study S&T (especially number of women)
• Improving quality of Science Education
• S&T Corporation and Networking Centres of excellence
• Encouraging the Africans in the diaspora to contribute in the S&T development in their motherland

Theme 3: Creating enabling environment for S&T development

The Breakaway session will consider the following major points:

• S&T Policies
• Financing S&T development (creative funding, traditional means and the role of Private Sector and non state actors)
• Technology Transfer and domestication
  

4. DATE AND VENUE

The Congress will take place from 27- 29 October 2006 in the Great Alexandria library in Egypt. The library is about 10 km from Alexandria train station.

Alexandria library dominated the ancient world of learning from approximately the third century B.C. to the fourth century A.D. It is the world's single greatest archive of knowledge. It has been over 2,000 years since scholars at this city's ancient library calculated the circumference of the Earth, isolated the function of the heart and came up with the concept of a leap year. Euclid and Archimedes studied there, as did Eratosthenes.

Unfortunately the library was burned down in the third century A.D causing great cultural and educational losses. Today a new library is rising above the Mediterranean, with the bold ambition of reviving Alexandria's role as a center of research and study.

5. CATEGORIES OF PARTICIPANTS

A hundred participants will be invited to this prestigious African Congress. Leading African scientists will come from the Academies of Sciences and from scientific establishments (research centres, councils, universities etc) in Africa. African Union Member states will provide a total of 53 Senior Policy Makers from Ministries of Science and Technology. About 10 Diaspora African scientists will be invited from across the world. A range of science–based Pan-African industries from various technological domains such as telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, oils, mining and agricultural companies will be invited as well.