Addis Ababa — The report, Assessing Regional Integration in Africa VII: Innovation, Competitiveness and Regional Integration (ARIA VII) launched on Saturday during the African Development Week advances that integration can foster innovation and competition in African countries through an investment in education.
Africa has spent much of the past decade investing in infrastructure, but it must not forget the development of human capital, the report urges. Investing in education, particularly in science and technology, will enhance competitiveness and innovation.
Developed jointly by the Economic Commission for Africa, the African Union Commission and the African Development Bank, this seventh edition posits that profound regional integration can enable innovation to generate greater competitiveness and trade, boosting integration, growth and development.
"As countries grow in innovation capacities, they are likely to integrate even more with each other through investment, supply chains, trade, knowledge and mobility," said Mr. David Luke, Coordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre at ECA.
As the Acting Chief Economist of the AfDB, Mr. Charles Lufumpa, pointed out "Africa's regional integration has changed and improved over the past five years", culminating in the formation of a tripartite free trade area, and negotiations on the establishment of a continental free trade area.
Mr. Lufumpa thinks Africa can do better. "A lot of progress has been made but we still have problems with energy shortages which pose serious constraints on businesses; lack of integrated infrastructure, and slow implementation of policy."
Mr. Sidi Ould Tah, the Director General of the Arab Bank for the Economic Development of Africa reminded the audience that the private sector was not given a role in the past, as an engine of economic growth. "To foster innovation, the role of the private sector needs to be expanded," he argued.
Africa can learn from other countries which have invested much in building talent for innovation. "Africa values regional integration a lot and it can take India's example of the massive investments made in tertiary education," suggested Mr. S Kuppuswamy, Representative of the Confederation of Indian Industry and Director of the Shapoorji & Pallonji Group.
The Head of Programmes at Third World Network- Africa's Secretariat, Mr. Teteh Hormeku, concurs that "it's not enough to create markets, we must focus on developing capacity and talent."
He counselled African states to look at the "interface between policies and the commitments we take outside the continent. We must seize this to ensure policy coherence and a pro-development Pan-African intellectual property framework."
