Positioning Africa as an innovative, competitive, and sustainable economy. This is the objective of the second edition of the Ministerial Forum on Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) in Africa scheduled from 14 to 17 October 2014 in Rabat, within the Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology. This "high-level" event is organised by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Moroccan government, and other partners, among others the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the Finnish government. It will be composed of a pre-forum on 14 October to offer an exhibition on innovation, organised jointly with the Moroccan Centre for Innovation, an opportunity for African innovators to present their work. This pre-forum will be followed by two technical days on 15-16 October and a ministerial forum on 17 October. "The forum aims for African ministers in charge of higher education, science, and technology as well as industry to engage in a dialogue with the private sector, the academic world, the diaspora, civil society, and scientific communities on a global scale, on the means to promote inclusive and green growth through scientific and technological innovation in Africa," stress the AfDB officials in a statement.

This forum follows the first Ministerial Conference on Science, Technology, and Innovation which brought together more than 40 ministers in Kenya in 2012 to place STI at the heart of political dialogue in Africa. According to a 2010 UNESCO report on science, research and development (R&D) attracts little public investment in Africa. The share of GDP devoted to R&D is around 0.3% on average on the continent (about 0.7% in Morocco), which is seven times less than the level recorded in industrialised countries. Moreover, the brain drain is hitting the continent hard: in 2009, the Network of African Science Academies estimated that at least a third of African scientists or graduates in the field of technology lived and worked in developed countries. This 2nd edition will thus be an opportunity to evaluate the current state of STI in Africa, human skills among others. It also aims to present the best global practices and innovations (essentially in the sectors of water, energy, natural resources, education, health, agriculture, and climate change) to find practical solutions to major problems, which can be financed by the AfDB and other development partners.

To this end, the AfDB affirms being associated with the World Summit Award (WSA), in order to create the Special Prize for African Content in mobile technology, in 35 African countries. WSA is an initiative launched within the framework of the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society, which selects the best practices in terms of interactive content in United Nations member states. "A great first, WSA will organise this time a special competition in Africa, in order to identify innovative and creative applications that have emerged in Africa and that promote an inclusive knowledge society. The African winners will be awarded their prize during the Forum in Rabat, where they will present their innovations to the public," indicate the forum organisers. The Forum also aims to forge strategic North-South and South-South partnerships in the field of STI as well as to strengthen the partnership between the private sector (industrial and technological companies...), the public sector, and universities in Africa and internationally.

Furthermore, in partnership with the International University of Rabat, visits to technology parks developed in Morocco and to higher education and research organisations will be organised.

It should be noted that after the holding of the first forum, several ministers requested that a virtual platform be set up, in order to connect networks of scientists, innovators, entrepreneurs, and educators on a global scale. To this end, the AfDB and its partners have launched www.africastihub.org, "a virtual platform on which they will be able to initiate the debate even before the second ministerial forum opens in Rabat."