UNESCO’s Division for Science Policy and Capacity-Building ran a two-day workshop in Harare (Zimbabwe) on 6-8 November 2012 to introduce countries in the region to a new survey it had developed within a project to develop a Global Observatory of STI Policy Instruments (GO→SPIN).

The meeting drew close to 50 participants. It was attended by official delegations from Botswana (7), Malawi (8), Mozambique (2), Zambia (7) and Zimbabwe (14). National delegations included representatives of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Planning, the national statistical agency, universities, the academy of sciences and the national research council.

The main objective of the GO→SPIN survey is to satisfy the growing demand of Member States for information on science, engineering, technology and innovation (SETI) policies and related policy instruments, governing bodies, legal frameworks, technology Intelligence studies, foresight studies and indicators, in order to develop national, medium and long-term national and regional strategies.

The Harare workshop showed participants how to fill out the GO→SPIN survey. Moreover, the information produced by the representatives of Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe at the workshop will be standardized and included in the GO→SPIN platform. Training workshops on the GO→SPIN survey are planned for other African countries, the first of which will take place in Dakar (Senegal) in February 2013.

A discussion on the policy implications of STI indicators was introduced by Martin Schaaper from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. UNESCO consultant G. Lemarchand, who devised the GO→SPIN platform, launched a second discussion on the application of mathematical models to produce technological forecasting and intelligence studies.

Discussion also centred around how to measure innovation within Africa’s informal sector and how to incorporate indigenous knowledge.

The workshop was organized within the Spanish-funded project on Capacity Building in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy in Africa. The meeting was coordinated by UNESCO’s Division for Science Policy and Capacity-Building, in collaboration with UNESCO´s Cluster Office in Harare, represented by UNESCO Programme Specialist Guy Broucke.

The workshop also offered an opportunity for countries to discuss bilateral collaboration with UNESCO. The GO-SPIN survey should help them to identify gaps in their national science, technology and innovation systems and set their priorities for the next phase of cooperation with UNESCO within this Spanish-funded project.

Invited speakers included Heneri Dzinotyiwei, Minister of Science and Technology of Zimbabwe, L. Mumba from NEPAD’s African STI Indicators Initiative, A. Konte from the African Observatory of Science, Technology and Innovation in Equatorial Guinea and Benson Zwizwai from the African Technology Policy Studies Network.