_Image: Linda Nordling for Research Professional News_
**New “network of networks” aims to strengthen continent’s negotiating position and address funding challenges**
A new pan-African science and technology innovation leaders’ forum will bring together six founding organisations to strengthen the continent’s research capabilities and global scientific influence.
Launched on 20 March, the initiative, described as a “network of networks”, will represent Africa in global science discussions and aim to strengthen the continent’s hand in negotiations where it is currently overlooked.
“The door closes and our African nations are left outside with tea and croissants while the decisions are being made inside. We must change that,” said Judy Omumbo (pictured, far left), a programme head at the Science for Africa Foundation, one of the founding members of the forum.
Noting that African negotiators sometimes meet each other for the first time at the negotiating table, she said: “A forum like this could help us plan for those engagements so the teams that go can have a proper African perspective.”
**Initial phase**
The forum aims to develop a collaborative ecosystem over its initial three-year phase, with ambitions to expand its scope and reach. It will initially focus on funding flows for science, technology and innovation, with plans to catalyse policy development and mobilise political engagement across the continent.
Heide Hackman (third from left), a former chief executive of the International Science Council and current chair of ‘science futures’ at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, which hosted the launch as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of its centre for Research in Evaluation, Science and Technology, said the forum could also champion or co-lead big funding applications for African research.
Olusola Oyewole (fourth from left), secretary-general of the Association of African Universities, another of the forum’s funding members, highlighted multiple challenges that the forum needs to address, including inadequate funding, weak policies, limited research collaboration within Africa, and poor linkages between academia and industry.
He also warned that for the forum to succeed, it needed clear governance structures and sustainable funding. “We should commit ourselves to some key projects to monitor progress and ensure \[the forum\] can be sustainable,” he said.
The forum’s other founding members are the African Academy of Sciences, the Network of African Science Academies, the Science Granting Councils Initiative (represented by South Africa’s National Research Foundation) and the African Research Universities Alliance.
_The Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology supported our journalist’s attendance at this conference._