There is an increasing role of science, technology and innovation (STI) in our daily activities, however in its present forms, STI are not working for everyone. In addition, the potentials for STI to help promote sustainable development (SD), by improving productivity and quality, enhancing governance, business practices and public policies, is yet to be fully harnessed. The recent financial crisis (started in 2008) has shown clearly the potential of STI (e.g. innovation in finance) to contribute towards short-term economic gains that result in privatising rewards for the few while socialising risks for the many, particularly the poor and marginalised in the society.
The African Union (AU) Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024 (STISA-2024), emphasises the critical role of STI for Africa’s socio-economic development and innovation-led growth. STISA-2024, as a continental strategy and policy, echoes key STI themes with a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral approach to explore the potentials for innovation as a mechanism for promoting SD, by enhancing governance, business practices and public policies. In addition, STISA-2024 underscores the importance of collaborations between education and research institutions, private and public entities as well as commercialisation of research and innovation outputs in realising socio-economic development that is sustainable, inclusive and innovation-led. Furthermore, STISA-2024 acknowledges that presently the priority for most of the continent is in “applying” or “utilising” innovation for [inclusive and sustainable] development; as opposed to the “transforming” or “rethinking” aspects of innovation.
Moreover, World Bank’s World Development Report 2016 recommends the role of the government, academic and research institutions as well as the private sector to enable countries reap the digital benefits form the global growth in the digital jobs and knowledge economy particularly for the country’s Digital Natives (Youth). There is also an urgent need for strong commitment by the government to education and training.
Sudan like much of the rest of the African countries has toyed with and abided by various approaches or strategies to transfer technology (TT) and achieve SD without reaping any significant socio-economic benefits. In its most basic form, the TT triangle includes the transfer item itself, the developer of the technology, various channels to accomplish the transfer, and the technology recipient. According to this conceptual approach to TT, several issues should be considered: the process used to transfer a technology influences the success of the transfer. This process is described as models of transfer. Regardless of the degree of technology development within any institution, the technology providers must have a linkage policy that defines its degree of commitment to interaction with the end users and transfer agencies. The end users should be the principal consideration in the design of technologies. Technology does not stand alone, but encompasses political, social, economic, and cultural values that can serve as barriers to the diffusion or transfer of technology. These barriers exist for all innovations, but some transfers are more affected than others. The appropriateness of technology seems to have a significant impact on its ability to overcome transfer barriers. Successful technology transfer is not achieved through the simple movement of technology to a new environment; it requires the development of a process and infrastructure that will help the technology break through the different barriers. The availability of funding greatly influences the transfer of technology and the timing of the transfer is critical and an important factor in the success or failure of an innovation’s ability to progress from the technological activity output phase to beneficial use.
Pedagogical Features:
In keeping with the high standards of books that also serve as texts for student and research audiences this text intends to overcome many of the weaknesses that are ascribable to many texts such as being densely conceptual. These weaknesses have often made them unsuitable for class-room usage at both undergraduate and post graduate levels. This text therefore intends to subscribe to the following pedagogical considerations:
- Consistency in structure content and general flow will be managed by editors working very closely with contributors to ensure.
- Each chapter contribution will consist of clearly specified aims/learning objectives, properly defined terms and concepts, illustrations that are of real-life/short cases, relevant end of chapter review questions, useful further readings, etc.
- The edited text will as a consequence have a clearer positioning and be more market oriented in terms of the targeted audience needs.
