The
Medical Research Council Gambia unit is currently playing host to an
international conference of researchers and innovators in West Africa.
It
is the 10th West African Research and Innovation Management Association
(WARIMA) international conference which is being attended by about 80
participants from across West Africa.
The
theme for this year’s conference is ‘Setting Research and Innovative Management
Agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The
subtopics and themes being discussed include policy and priority setting for
SDG research in West Africa, building and strengthening capacities for research
and research management, strengthening research, and creativity and innovative
cooperation among universities.
The
participants are drawn from research and innovation management institutions as
well as those interested in undertaking cutting edge research.
The
conference was preceded by a two-day workshop on how to access research funds
in an ever-changing and competitive research environment.
Professor
Labode Popoola, president of WARIMA, said the forum offered the opportunity to
sensitise and challenge researchers and innovation managers on the knowledge,
products and services that will unleash development, yet balance the three
dimensions of sustainable development: environment, social, and economy, in the
West African sub-region.
He
said in spite of Africa’s enormous natural resource endowment, its contribution
to the development of the global economy is sub-optical.
Africa,
the least developed continent in the world, is a continent characterised by low
human capacity and low economic wellbeing.
The
continent accounts for more than one billion people with the attendant
development challenges.
WARIMA
president pointed out that although global poverty has been on the decline as a
result of rapid economic growth in Europe, the Americans and parts of Asia,
Africa’s contribution to the decline is insignificant.
“Indeed
absolute poverty in many of the African counties is on the increase,” he said.
Professor
Popoola said poor and uncoordinated research and lack of innovations that can
unleash development have been identified as some of the weak links in Africa’s
development process.
“West
Africa appears to be more affected in this regard,” he said, adding that WARIMA
was founded in Lagos, Nigeria in 2006 to address some of these issues.
The
objectives of WARIMA are professional development building, promotion of best
practices, increasing awareness of research and innovation issues in academic
and public, advocacy of appropriate national and institutional policy in
support of research and innovation, and participation in the development and
testing of policy.
