Science, Technology, Development

STD - ISSN 2752-6879 - © ISTE Ltd

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This paper examines the relationship between the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) and technology transfer through licensing in African countries. We ask the question: In these countries, does the introduction of IPR protection encourage technology transfers through licensing? We use panel data for a sample of 12 African countries, three from North Africa and nine from Sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1995 to 2020. The empirical results show that IPR protection has a positive impact on technology transfer through licensing in these countries. The enforcement of IPR protection laws in African countries increases the incentive for technology transfer. Furthermore, empirical results reveal that the level of economic development, remittances and the demographic size of the country are all key factors in this type of technology transfer. However, education has no impact on technology transfer in these countries.

Several research studies have shown the importance of observable factors in triggering the propensity to innovate, but only a few in the agricultural sector consider the unobservable but determining factors in the innovation process. This article analyzes the effects of psychosociological factors on the propensity of cashew producers to innovate through capacity building. The theories of planned behavior and self-determination have mainly been mobilized. Thanks to a structured interview, we sent a questionnaire to 214 cashew producers and organized focus groups using an interview guide. Results obtained from an analysis of the data using the structural equation model suggest that capacity building influences cognitive capital and learning capacity. These variables, in turn, influence the producers’ propensity for innovation through opportunistic thinking, feelings of self-confidence, social autonomy and competence. Finally, in the decision-making process about whether or not to adopt an innovation, propensity is very important.

The extraction of wood for daily domestic use (mainly for coal and construction) is one of the pressures on forests, even if restoration is carried out. Its consequences are considerably increased in the eastern region of Madagascar, due to the unregulated and disproportionate economic activities that operate mainly due to unemployment. Our objective is to highlight the consequences of economic activities in the target sites. Socio-economic surveys were carried out, followed by data analysis using econometric models. Questionnaires queried the reasons for logging and/or forest conversion in relation to the activities of the inhabitants, the species of trees exploited in the forest restoration area for the manufacture of coal, the amount of trees felled, their diameter and the consequences on forest degradation. Variances and standard deviations were calculated for the results obtained. Thus, the consequences of economic activities are significant. The use of fast-growing indigenous species for forest restoration and the promotion of the use of efficient stoves or “fatana mitsitsy” have been recommended.

This study proposes a system to reduce the number of accidents related to speeding, and aims to facilitate the apprehension of those not complying with speed limits within the city of Lubumbashi. The goal is to create a database and propose a management model for road surveillance by focusing on speeding, in order to significantly reduce the risk of traffic accidents. We limited ourselves to controlling the speed of vehicles within specific areas of Lubumbashi which were presented to us as the places where the highest amount of speed-related accidents occur. We created a database with MYSQL, using specifically the MYSQL Workbench tool, and realized a system management program with MATLAB. This management system allowed us to program the database and to manipulate the data with four functions: writing, display, addition and deletion. Thus, we have chosen a network for transmitting information to the control center via fiber optics. The detector allows us to compare the speed of vehicles to fixed thresholds, which vary from 30 to 70 km/h depending on the area’s speed limits, which are in compliance with the Democratic Republic of Congo’s road traffic laws. The control center would be located at the central office of the Lubumbashi traffic police, where speeding tickets would be generated, to which would be attached all evidence of the offence.

New breeding techniques (NBT) are today at the centre of a new governance of varietal innovation that is reigniting the debates around the technological promises of GMO varieties. Similar to GMOs, they are controversial due to their ecological, agronomic and socio-economic risks. By examining an experimental case study on genome editing techniques used to develop rice varieties in Madagascar, we explore how the interactions between the different societal stakeholders renew the governance of biotechnology-based varietal innovation. The results suggest that initial experimentation should be reconfigured by strengthening skills to detect genetic modifications in new varieties, as well as by considering societal risks. They highlight the inadequacy of institutional frameworks for biosafety risk assessment in low-income countries. The results also inform us on how to strengthen these frameworks through targeted stakeholder involvement. They suggest that more cooperative approaches will aid in defining the models and objectives of varietal innovations.

Madagascar is very rich in biodiversity; 90% of the species are endemic. Due to anthropogenic pressures, threatened and endangered species are ranked by the IUCN. However, entire groups of plants are still not well-known and new taxa are still being discovered, and Malagasy education is too theoretical and imaginary. Also, the population’s dependence on medicinal plants, through their daily use to prevent covid-19, has been noted. These are the reasons for the creation of the innovative botanical garden; a garden with the involvement of 3Ps and the local population. The aim is to demonstrate human dependence on traditional medicinal plants as well as new uses of plants, in order to strengthen their conservation, economy and sustainable development. This dependence is based on cultural, cosmetic and pharmacopoeia plans as well as conservation. Based on historical data, a survey of medicinal plants used to prevent Covid-19 was conducted in July 2020 through investigations of the population of Mahajanga and its periphery. Lists of plants, including those extracted for essential oil, are highlighted, with scientific information about them added. The connection of a garden with a dense dry forest, restored with two endemic plants and their essential oil, is provided. Thus, the Mahajanga Botanic Garden and University Forest could be key to understanding bioeconomy. To demonstrate innovation and address climate change, the creation of virtuous bioeconomy projects for sustainable institutional development and partnership is studied.

There is a struggle for fundamental needs, including that of nutrition, to be achieved at the global scale. At the moment, the main effort has been to ask local actors to adopt an external model. However, when considerations are taken into account regarding the environment as well as climate change, a shift towards a qualitative model is necessary to help take on this situation. A successful model must mobilize technology at a certain level in order to produce useful and required systems and goods. One must combine technological innovation with organizational innovation in order to select good practices (whether these are new or old practices) that respond to the constraints of local production and consumption that can be compatible with sustainable development. Consequently, for agriculture, as for other sectors, we put forward the concept of environmental frugal innovation. Indeed, if the marketing appropriation of technology is a dead end, then a frugal approach is only acceptable if, at the conception level, sustainable development is taken into account. In order for this to be achieved, this type of innovation must rely on creativity based on improvisation and bricolage, at the local level within a community of local practices. After a general presentation about nutrition, technology and development, where emphasis is placed on the question of satisfactory technology, we propose as an example, for educational purposes, the evolution and cultivation of two world cereals, sorghum and rice. These two could be fruitful (and could lead to a new model to follow) for a healthy diet for all, all while being mindful of the natural environment, especially in the face of climate change.

The objective of this study is to uncover, through hypothesis testing, the identification of the determinants that justify the intentions of the private sector to come and invest in infrastructure through Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in sub-Saharan Africa in the field of information and communication technology (ICT). We refer to this type of PPP as “Innovative PPP”. The main source of data comes from the World Bank’s Public Private Infrastructure (PPI) project database for the period 2000–2019. The results reveal two (2) specific factors that justify the interest of the private sector in investing in a country’s innovative PPPs: (i) the size of the population, which characterizes the size of the market and; (ii) the quality of the administration index that materializes the degree of efficiency of public administration in a country. These two variables must be taken into account to attract the private sector to finance innovative PPPs in sub-Saharan Africa.

In developing countries, and more particularly in Burkina Faso, the development of mobile money is dazzling. In just a few years, this innovation has taken centre stage among the various mobile phone users. This article aims to answer the following question: How does mobile money contribute to improving the living conditions of the BoP population in Burkina Faso? To answer this question, we used a qualitative methodology based on semi-structured interviews. A total of fifteen (15) face-to-face interviews were conducted with promoters of mobile money shops in Ouagadougou. The main results show that in view of the accessibility of mobile money, its visibility, its low cost and its quality, mobile money is a frugal innovation and contributes significantly to improving the living conditions of the BoP population. This research can be a source of motivation for other frugal innovations that could be implemented in other areas in order to meet Sustainable Development Goals, in particular regarding the fight against poverty.

In sub-Saharan Africa, managing the growing gap between rural supply and urban demand for good quality food products has become a serious challenge. This calls for an analysis of territorial innovation with a view to uncover an innovative model of sustainable urban supply, such as that of “Food Hubs”. To address this issue, this study questions the place they occupy in the context of digital development within scientific work, to accompany the transition to sustainable “agri-food” systems. Thus, we conducted a search on Google Scholar using the “Publish or Perish” software. The results show that, of the 105 articles published in peer-reviewed journals, there were none that focused on cities in sub-Saharan African countries. This result contrasts with the existence, as of February 2022, of ten Food Hubs in this part of the African continent. This work, therefore, recommends that case studies be carried out on these Food Hubs.