The African Union Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET) held its 3rd Virtual meeting in 2020 on the 16th of September, 2020 to among other things interact with the Calestous Juma Executive Dialogue (CJED) Technical Working Groups (TWG) and National Focal Points(NFP) and Resource Persons (RP). The CJED TWG, NFPs and RPs would be officially inaugurated at the upcoming 3rd Calestous Juma Executive Dialogue slated for the 29th and 30th of September 2020. This is aimed at promoting inter-country and inter-regional learning and knowledge exchange on science, innovation and emerging technologies across Africa.

In her opening remarks, the chair of APET, Professor Yaye Kène Gassama welcomed the TWG, NFPs and RPs to the APET family. She thanked them for their commitment to the CJED in developing sound policies and capacity strengthening in the harnessing of innovation and emerging technologies. Prof Gassama was positive that the pandemic had within it opportunities for Africa to take a second look at effectively harnessing innovation and emerging technologies and highlighted the need for evaluating our health systems and utilising science and technology for quality healthcare. The APET chair commended Panel members as well as the APET Secretariat which consists of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and the African Union Commission (AUC) on their commitment and hard work.

Also in attendance was the AU Goodwill Ambassador on Tuberculosis and Nutrition, Ms Yvonne Chaka Chaka. In her opening remarks, the Goodwill Ambassador iterated that over 25% of TB deaths occur in the Sub-Saharan African Region. “I believe these challenges, can be adequately addressed through the effective harnessing of innovation and emerging technologies on the continent. Next-generation medicine, indigenous medications, improved diagnostics and vaccines, improved food delivery chains and digital health innovation are all tools that our continent needs today to address the burdens of TB” she remarked.

The President of the TWG, Dr Dumisani Magadlela reiterated the passion of the TWG in supporting the vision of the CJED. Similarly, the President of the NFPs and RPs, Professor Leonard Kamwanja, pledged the support of the team in implementing the CJED planned interventions, which would consist of executive dialogues, short courses ranging from half-day to three days, study tours, and a comprehensive virtual knowledge platform.

The acting coordinator of the APET-CJED programme, Dr Justina Dugbazah, presented a progress report on APET’s activities for 2020. She announced the approval of grant funding for the APET-CJED programme for the next 5 years (2021 – 2025). Four new reports are being developed by the panel and at the editing stage (AI, Blockchain, Gene Editing and Next Generation batteries). The panel has additionally developed a white paper to be launched at the 3rd Calestous Juma Executive Dialogue. Lastly, APET support to the capacity strengthening of stakeholders under the Integrated Vector Management platform has been initiated.

In the next 4 months, the panel and its secretariat shall continue in the monthly engagements with senior executives, policy and decision-makers through the CJED webinar series on varying themes linking innovation and emerging technologies to development sub-sectors. The panel intends to roll-out its virtual engagement portal to support effective dissemination of its knowledge products amongst its stakeholders, strengthen networking among Member States and support peer learning and mentoring.

Next on the agenda were discussions on the next phase of social and political advocacy for the works of APET. As a leading think tank on the continent on issues of innovation and emerging technologies, branding for APET-CJED is needed to support the next phase of its multi-stakeholder engagements - to be rolled out in the next 5 years. This would involve extensive engagements with several stakeholders across the continent. The panel discussed new branding tools such as a logo and standardised document templates for communication to align with the panel communication and social engagement strategy.

APET is embarking on a campaign for the enhanced domestication of the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA-2024). It has been identified that the tracking of available National STI policies aligned to STISA-2024 is key in anticipation of aggressive competition with innovation and technology-embedded products within the AfCFTA framework. Additionally, analysis of data on R&D investment indicates that continental interventions rolled out to mitigate the COVID-19 impact will affect the prioritisation of STI due to projected weak R&D spending within austerity measures; contrary to the STISA-2024 recommendation. The campaign is to elucidate the value of STI prioritisation and investment by Member States of the African Union and the potential of such investments in addressing continental challenges in a post-COVID Africa. The panel discussed the modalities of the campaign with a plan to launch the campaign at the 3rd CJED.

The 3rd CJED would be held virtually on the 29th and 30th September 2020. It promises to be an exciting virtual experience of multi-panel-discussions tackling various aspirations of Agenda 2063 and SDGs. The executive dialogue is relevant to addressing the challenges and opportunities that confront African countries by providing participants with a deeper understanding of the complexities of harnessing emerging technologies in Africa within a global context. Participants include experienced senior policymakers and decision-makers, senior executives with significant responsibility for strategic decision-making, Chief Directors, Permanent Secretaries, Vice-chancellors, Directors-General and Directors of government ministries, parliamentarians, CEOs, senior researchers, regulators, selected experts and relevant stakeholders who are influencers on the continent, youth, civil societies and academia. To register, click here:  https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJctdu2rqT4jEtJ4lQzeh7gDnk6GSKgOZKw4