African-led science, technology and innovation for contributing to the SDGs and stimulating global development Conference of the PASET Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF).

icipe in collaboration with UM6P is extending an open invitation to an online dialogue on building capacity for science, technology and innovation in Africa on 16th and 17th November 2021.

This pre-conference will bring together key science, technology and higher education stakeholders, with the objective of i) sharing key relevant advances in science, technology and innovation (STI) and higher education in Africa and globally; and ii) reviewing key achievements and progress of the African government-led Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology flagship programme, the RSIF to date. We will receive input from participants on how to enhance PASET RSIF’s relevance to countries and contribution to private sector development. The insights will inform RSIF future planning and implementation.

Specifically, we aim to:

1. Discuss the role of STI in global development, including through examples such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Share emerging lessons from the RSIF model on how to strengthen doctoral training, research and innovation in Africa with a focus on the sandwich-training model
3. Highlight best practices in science funding and showcase RSIF as a high return-on-investment program
4. Discuss resource mobilization for RSIF permanent fund

RSIF aims to support PhD students, post-doctoral scientists, and universities in SSA to establish high-quality training, research and innovation environments and to develop institutional capacity for the benefit of the whole region. The event is organized by the RSIF (www.rsif-paset.org) Regional Coordination Unit, the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) (www.icipe.org) in collaboration with University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (www.um6p.ma).