Africa
UNESCO is contributing to Africa’s Consolidated Plan of Action as concerns improving policy conditions and building mechanisms for innovation. UNESCO is also working with African countries to develop or review national science, technology and innovation (STI) policies. Several national projects are ongoing.

After the first project on Capacity Building for STI Policies in Africa that covered 21 countries, the Spanish Government is financing a new project to Support to the development of legal frameworks, policy instruments and governing bodies for the effective implementation of national Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policies in Africa.

UNESCO’s Nairobi office hosts the African Network of Scientific and Institutional Institutions (ANSTI). Every two years, ANSTI organizes the regional conference of vice-chancellors and deans of science, engineering and technology. The next conference is taking place in Botswana in November 2013.

In April 2012, UNESCO and its partners organized a major conference on STI in Africa for youth employment, human capital development and inclusive growth.

Arab States
UNESCO and the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) are spearheading efforts to develop an Arab Plan of Action for Science and Technology.

UNESCO is also working with Arab countries to develop or review national STI policies. The policy for Lebanon was launched in 2006 and a policy for Iraq is currently under development.

In 2011, UNESCO launched an Arab network for the expansion of converging technologies (NECTAR) involving scientific and engineering institutions in the region.

Asia
UNESCO’s regional and cluster offices implement programmes and projects to develop the capacity of Asian member states to develop appropriate science, technology and innovation (STI) policies and map the development of STI in their country.

European Union
Read the chapter on the European Union in the latest edition of the UNESCO Science Report 2010, which updates the status of science worldwide every five years.

Latin America
UNESCO is carring out a consultative process with a view to establishing a Regional Strategic Action Plan in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy for Latin Amercia and the Caribbean.

Caribbean
Cariscience is a sub-regional network of scientists launched in 1999 which operates under the auspices of UNESCO. In 2008, the governments of the Caribbean Common Market (CARICOM) adopted one of the main recommendations of the Mokhele Report commissioned by UNESCO, leading to the launch of the Caribbean Science Foundation two years later. The foundation's main mission is to foster collaborative research, in order to foster linkages between academia and industry.

North America
Read the chapters on Canada and the USA in the latest edition of the UNESCO Science Report 2010, which updates the status of science worldwide every five years.

Southeast Europe
UNESCO is helping the post-conflict countries of Southeast Europe reconstruct their science systems and integrate pan-European science. UNESCO is giving particular attention to Albania, Armenia and Serbia in the formulation of their national STI policies.

Small island developing states (SIDS)
UNESCO is contributing to the implementation of the Mauritius Strategy (2005) for the sustainable development of SIDS.