Science and Technology in Africa

Science and technology in Africa has unfolded since the dawn of human history; the first evidence of tool use by our hominid ancestors is interred in valleys across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Currently, forty percent of African-born scientists live in OECD countries, predominantly NATO and EU countries. This has been described as an African brain drain.

Sub-Saharan African countries spent on average 0.3% of their GDP on S&T (Science and Technology) in 2007. This represents a combined increase from US$1.8bn in 2002 to US$2.8bn in 2007. North African countries spend a comparative 0.4% of GDP on research, an increase from US$2.6bn in 2002 to US$3.3bn in 2007. Exempting South Africa, the continent has augmented its collective science funding by about 50% in the last decade. Notably outstripping its neighbor states, South Africa spends 0.87% of GDP on science and technology research. Although technology parks have a long history in the US and Europe, their presence across Africa is still limited, as the continent currently lags behind other regions of the world in terms of funding technological development and innovation. Only six countries (Morocco, Egypt, Senegal, Madagascar, Tunisia and South Africa) have made technology park construction an integral piece of their development goals.

In recent years, a greater volume of African countries have embraced technology as a driver of development, e.g. Kenya's Vision 2030 and Rwanda's rapid ICT growth. Telecom innovation in particular has broadly improved quality of life across sub-Saharan Africa. Also, continent-wide membership in social networking sites such as Facebook and Tokea! has risen to over 100,000 by 2012.