IST-Africa Knowledge Exchange Meetings, Belfast, 28 October 2014
IST-Africa organised a series of meetings in Northern Ireland during the week of 27 October to raise awareness of African research capacity in the context of the ICT-39 Call in Horizon 2020 as well as to learn from experiences in other countries. Following a private IST-Africa Partner Meeting on 27 October, IIIMC organised a series of Stakeholder Engagement Meetings on 28 November between the IST-Africa Partners and key Innovation Stakeholders from the Public and Education and Research Sectors. IST-Africa organised a workshop focused on ICT-39 and raising awareness of African research capacity and thematic areas of interest within the Scientific Programme of eChallenges e2014 on 29 and 30 October.
The two main Higher Education Institutions (Queens University, Belfast; University of Ulster) shared their experiences and rationale for setting up research programmes. This is interesting in the context of Ministries supporting and encouraging African Higher Education Institutions to set up Research Directors and develop research programmes focused on addressing societal challenges side by side with traditional teaching.
Dr Paul Donachy, Head of Commercial Development in Research and Enterprise, shared insight into the reasons why the Research and Enterprise Directorate was originally established at Queens University, Belfast. Paul outlined the range of research programmes currently in place and explained their relationship with internal centres of excellence within the university. He then answered questions from the IST-Africa Partners about operationalisation issues and what is involved in establishing and managing research, enterprise and innovation programmes.
Nigel McFarland, Head of Research and Innovation, University of Ulster described their multi-campus network, discussed the reasons for the establishment of the University's Research Institutes and provided an overview of the University of Ulster's Research and Innovation related programmes.
Eoin McFadden from the Innovation Policy Unit of the Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment discussed issues related to regional innovation policy and coordination with national UK innovation policy. Eoin then provided insight into the design and implementation of Northern Ireland's new Innovation Strategy and addressed points of clarification raised by partners. This was very interesting as many African countries are either developing Innovation Strategies or revising existing Science, Technology and Innovation Policies.
Norman Appley, Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP), described the history behind the establishment of NISP and an overview of success stories to date. He also discussed more recent spin-off activities such as NISP Connect and the Halo Angel Investor Network, which has been an important source of seed capital for start-ups and early stage companies in Northern Ireland. Many African countries are now either developing or planning to develop Science Parks. As a result there was considerable interest from IST-Africa Partners in issues related to establishing and managing a National Science Park. It is likely that these discussions will be ongoing.
Finally, Peter Corcoran, National University Galway provided insight into the pros and cons of Intellectual Property (IP) protection through patents, based on his experience as an author and co-author on quite a large patent portfolio. Peter explained the differences and pros and cons of patent, copyright and open source protection approach to IP. He also described a Shoe String approach to Innovation and Economic Development. This resulted in considerable discussion, as traditionally patents are an important metric for measuring innovation in an African context.
Following these meetings the IST-Africa partners then went to University of Ulster, Jordanstown Campus to participate in a joint IST-Africa / IEEE Networking Event focused on Research Collaboration with Africa.
