Africa's Think Tanks US Visit to Chart Partnerships on STI

Nairobi, September 22, 2014 (Newswire.com) - According to Prof Calestous Juma, a Kenyan and Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Professor at the MIT, this will be the first time in the history of the Institute to interact with Africa’s leading think tanks. “The event will grant leading Scholars, Scientists, MIT faculty, business people and students in the US the opportunity to interact with Africa’s think tanks".

Among Africa’s scholars and think tanks expected at the Symposium include Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, the Secretary- General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development and former minister of Trade in Kenya, Prof Aderemi Kuku, a Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Computational Science from Botswana International University of Science and Technology and President of the Nairobi-based AAS, and Dr Aggrey Ambali, the head of Science, Technology and Innovation at the NEPAD in South Africa. 

The event will grant leading Scholars, Scientists, MIT faculty, business people and students in the US the opportunity to interact with Africa's think tanks

Prof Calistous Juma, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Professor at the MIT

There will also be Dr Beatrice Khamati-Njenga, head, Education Division, AU Commission and Mr. Hambani Masheleni, Senior Policy Officer, AU Commission.

Convened by MIT in partnership with the African Union's NEPAD Agency, the symposium will aid African countries’ quest for a variety of partnerships  around the world to realize the 10-year Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA-2024) by the African Union.

The Strategy, adopted in June 2014 by the African heads of state and governments is part of the long-term Agenda 2063 which outlines the need to "merge African initiatives and strategies on accelerated human capital development, science and technology and innovation."

The event is organized by the Center for International Studies and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning In cooperation with the MIT-Africa Interest Group (MAIG), MIT UrbanAfrica, and the MIT Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Professors and Scholars Program.