Following the successful “EU Science: Global Challenges, Global Collaboration” Conference (ES:GC2), held on 4-8 March 2013 at the European Parliament in Brussels, ISC organised a seminar titled “Global Science Collaboration: Science Capacity Building & the Implications for the Development Process” which took place on 27-28 June 2013 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

This seminar was held on the occasion of a wider series of S&T events in Addis Ababa, organised by the European Commission, the African Union Commission, CAAST-Net+ and JEG8 from the 24-28 of June.

The ES:GC2 Conference generated significant participation from a broad spectrum of scientists, academics, policymakers, high-level government officials and industry representatives from across the globe and placed EU research at the centre of the international response to global challenges.

Building on the themes of ES:GC2, the seminar in Addis Ababa concentrated on science capacity building as a policy issue, focusing on what it is, how it is supported and what the initiatives are that are currently underway in this area.

Seminar discussions addressed how global collaborative science across borders and disciplines can best support science capacity building in Africa.

Key themes of the seminar included:

• The 50 year roadmap for the future of medicine;
• Addressing health challenges through biobanks;
• Cooperative Scientific Research Efforts with Africa;
• Patents and clean energy technologies in Africa;
• Addressing development challenges through cooperation in science capacity building;
• Responsible Innovation and Hippocratic Education using Open Creative Technology Tools;
• ACP Sugar Research Programme;
• African-European Radio Astronomy Platform;

The “Global Science Collaboration: Science Capacity Building & the Implications for the Development Process” programme included an outstanding collection of speakers from all over the world. The event intended to bring together international decision-makers, researchers, academic community and industry leaders to discuss issues and topics related to developing human and technological capacity through science collaboration.

Speakers included:

• Prof Kurt Zatloukal, Medical University Graz;
• Prof Andrew Gidamis, African Institute for Capacity Development
• Dr Mae Jemison, 100 Year Starship;
• Dr Monique Beaudoin, Office of Naval Research Global;
• Kwadwo Owusu Akuffo, Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland
• Dr Klaus Lindpaintner, Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Mr Gerard Owens, European Patent Office
• Declan Kirrane, Managing Director ISC;

Prof Kurt Zatloukal, Medical University Graz and founding co-chair of The 50 year roadmap for the future of medicine will be speaking at the session titled, “Health: A development challenge”. The Concept of the 50 year roadmap for the future of medicine outlines the challenges and tries to sketch potential solutions for the future of medicine. The roadmap foresees the definition of a common scientific goal that generates the basis for the future of medicine, and the establishment of a proper process enabling scientists around the world developing joint forces to address this goal.

On capacity building and the implications for the development process Prof Zatloukal said, “Research infrastructures in the biological and medical sciences could be instrumental in establishing a knowledge-based bio-economy and in improving health in Africa.”

The seminar objectives were to:

• Enable a global discussion on collaborative projects supporting science capacity building;
• Facilitate networking and collaboration between European and African researchers and policy makers;
• Draw attention to and clarify the regulatory, policy, standards and funding environment required for high-impact science capacity building in Africa.

To view the pictures from the seminar, please click here.

To access the seminar presentations, please visit the "Downloads" section below.