Wednesday, September 13, 2023

9th edition of the Science Summit

12-29 September 2023. 9th edition of the Science Summit
The role and contribution of science to attaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be the central theme of the Summit. The objective is to develop and launch science collaborations to demonstrate global science mechanisms and activities to support the attainment of the UN SDGs, Agenda 2030 and Local2030. 

The meeting will also prepare input for the United Nations Summit of the Future, which will take place during UNGA79 beginning on 12 September 2024.

The Summit will examine what enabling policy, regulatory and financial environments are needed to implement and sustain the science mechanisms required to support genuinely global scientific collaborations across continents, nations and themes. Scientific discovery through the analysis of massive data sets is at hand. This data-enabled approach to science, research and development will be necessary if the SDGs are to be achieved. The Science Summit will begin with a Digital Science Plenary on 12-13 September 2023.

Registration will allow you to select the sessions you want to attend. Only by selecting the session, you will see the button link to access the Video Stream.

The Science Summit consists of approximately 350 sessions, bringing together 1400 speakers and building on the successful Science Summit at UNGA77 in 2022.

Selection of panels at the 9th edition of the Science Summit 

in CEST (Central European Simmer) and CAT (Central Africa) time zones

12/09 @8:00pm - 10:00pm [VIRTUAL] The Role of Affordable and Clean Energy on the Sustainable Development of Africa


The symposium covered the following themes: Clean energy sources; Clean energy development policies; Energy transition, efficiency and utilisation; Energy consumption prediction and optimisation; Key technologies for smart energy management; Reliability and maintenance of clean energy systems.


This session invited experts across the globe to address the challenges associated with inclusive science, environmental pollution issues, and strategic partnerships necessary to deliver on the SDGs in a climate-changing world


13/09 @3:00pm - 5:00pm [VIRTUAL] Exploring the Value of Living Labs in Co-Creation and Open Innovation with ENOLL

Living labs, as real-world experimentation environments, have proven to be essential platforms for fostering collaboration, enabling rapid learning, and creating value for stakeholders. This session uncovered the unique potential of living labs to accelerate innovation, enhance stakeholder engagement, and contribute to sustainable development within the framework of co-creation and open innovation by serving as vital connectors between technology and human-centric societal goalsIn the case of livestock in tropical and sub-tropical African countries climate change will result in (1) a decrease in production (meat and milk), (2) lower fertility (in both males and females) that will affect reproduction, (2) more diseases, especially the host transmittable diseases and (4) lower quality of the grazing. In these African countries, climate change represents a feedback-loop in which livestock production both contributes to climate change and suffers from the consequences. That is why adaptation, resilience and mitigation strategies are critical for sustainability. This is in contrast to developed countries in temperate regions where the focus is mainly on mitigation.

The session highlighted some of the key scientific innovations emerging from Agricultural Research & Innovation, and share best practices in closing the science-policy and science-practice gaps to deal with the challenges of climate change and food systems. Key priorities to accelerate the science-led climate resilient food systems in Africa were identified and speakers highlighted the required actions/interventions from a UN and global level to prioritize agricultural research in terms of agenda setting and related investments.
  • Triona Mccormack University College Dublin, Ireland Ireland’s experience in Sustainable Food and Agriculture
  • Petronella Chaminuka Acting Group Executive: Impact and Partnerships Unit, ARC South Africa for Dr Litha Magingxa CEO ARC of South Africa Agricultural research technologies for climate resilience
  • Dr Rose Omari Principal Research Scientist and the Deputy Director at the Science and Technology Policy Institute, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-STEPRI) Ghana. Coordinating the development and adoption of the national policy for aflatoxin control in food and feed in Ghana
How do we close the science-policy and science-practice gaps and prioritisation of agricultural research in the post SDG agenda for climate resilience and sustainable food systems?
  • Triona Mccormack, University College Dublin, Ireland Influencing policy through evidence 
  • Mariamme Maiga (PhD) Regional Gender and Social Development Adviser CORAF Gendered perspectives 
  • Michael Bairu, Principal Researcher and Research Team Manager Vegetable, Industrial and Medicinal Plants’ Root, Tuber and Bulbous ARC South Africa Meeting bread and butter needs through science 
  • Prof A Mushunje - University of Fort Hare, South Africa Developing capacities for science 
    He presented an upcoming study on climate change topics in the curricula of South African universities
  • Genna Tesdall- Young Professionals for Agricultural Development YPARD
  • Summary and closing remarks Petronella Chaminuka
COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a European funding organisation for research and innovation networks. Its Actions help connect research initiatives across Europe and over the globe while enabling researchers and innovators to grow their ideas in any science and technology field and share them with their peers. The AccelNet program funds networking activities to coordinate the efforts of multiple independent research networks at the international level in cooperative team science.Aside from scientific enterprise in Africa, there are significant developments in various other related spheres, ranging from a renewed scholarly output in areas of the history and sociology of science and technology to a dynamic capital landscape resulting in increased funding for innovations serving the African continent.

This session had four speakers from diverse AI backgrounds who presented individual cases by applying an AI governance lens.
  • Michael Zimba Director, Malawi University of Science and Technology 
  • Shikoh Gitau CEO of Qhala, a Digital Innovation company that catalyzes digital transformation capabilities for organizations across Africa. 
  • Magdalene Kariuki Associate Director, Africa Practice 
  • Peter G. Kirchschlaeger Ethics-Professor, University of Lucerne 
  • Maha Jouini Founder and CEO, African Center for AI and digital Technology. She is a UNDP Business Mentor and founder of the African Center for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technology. Based in Mauritania, She is working as Digital Transformation Consultant.
This is the beginning of a WUR-WWF collaboration to weave together interdisciplinary science, cross-sectoral policies and diverse societal values on food and nature.
  • Brent Loken Global Food Lead Scientist for WWF
  • Edith Feskens Professor in Global Nutrition at Wageningen University & Research
  • Nelly Isigi Kadagi Director of Conservation Leadership and the Education for Nature Program for WWF 
  • Ravic Nijbroek Head of Science and Impact for WWF Netherlands 
  • Jelle Maas Public Affairs Manager, Wageningen University & Research 
  • Jeanne Nel Programme Lead: Biodiverse Environment, Wageningen University & Research 
  • Sjoukje Heimovaara President of the Executive Board of Wageningen University & Research 
  • Kirsten Schuijt WWF

18/09 @3:00pm - 5:00pm [VIRTUAL] The role of science and technology in developing clean energy for emerging and developing economies

Science plays a crucial role in driving research and development of clean energy technologies that are suitable for the unique challenges and contexts of developing countries.

19/09 @3:00pm - 7:00pm [VIRTUAL] Academia - industry partnership: The missing link in Africa

A lot of effort has been going on to stimulate academia-industrial linkages across the globe with obvious tangible and varying successes in across locations. There has been notable success on the Triple Helix approach in Silicon Valley (Vaivode 2015) but low level of investment in knowledge generation (research and innovation), intellectual property ownership, mistrust, low level of expertise, poor research uptake (implementation) and lack of interest in R and I by different players cause low level of academia-industry collaboration and partnerships in Africa.
  • James Waithaka Chief Operating Officer, Chief Operations Officer, Research Beeline Ltd, Kenya  
  • Ari Jacobovits Managing Director, Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Africa, MIT, US
    The MIT-Africa Program empowers MIT students and faculty to advance knowledge and solve the world’s great challenges by connecting them with leading researchers, companies, and other partners in African countries.
  • Abraham Abebe Assefa Dean of Business and Economics College and Assistant professor of management, Assosa University, Ethiopia 
  • Vincent Onywera Deputy Vice Chancellor, KCA University, Kenya 
  • Wales Singini Vice Chancellor, Mzuzu University, Malawi 
  • Joseph Njogu CEO, Research Beeline Ltd, Kenya 
This is the link and this is the passcode [ 7cwB!eBb ]  to the recorded proceedings of the session
A considerable amount of interest is mounting in African capabilities for conducting various kinds of scientific research and enterprise, for example, the push to have vaccine manufacturing facilities and expertise be present on the continent. However, on a global scale, there is still a significant amount of consideration that needs to be given to African leaders, researchers and policy makers as the landscape shifts towards a broader involvement of Africans within the scientific realm, and as adjustments are made in recognition of the contributions and collaborations with African scientists that have been instrumental in fields ranging from agriculture to molecular medicine.
  • Anna Fumarola Senior Project Manager, Women for Africa Foundation 
  • Michelle Angwenyi Strategic Designer, ThinkPlace Kenya 
  • Ian Peter Busuulwa Coordinator, Bioeconomy Coalition of Africa


Plant molecular farming has emerged as an alternative biomanufacturing process for the production of biopharmaceuticals especially in developing countries. This platform for biopharmaceutical production has been validated by products manufactured and supplied by many companies in the industry viz. Plantform, Leaf expression systems and Cape Bio Pharms. This track record demonstrates its potential for socioeconomic change, commercial viability and feasibility as well as prospects for the introduction of circularity into the production process.
  • Sandiswa Mbewana Lecturer, University of Cape Town 
  • Tsepo Tsekoa Chief Researcher, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) South Africa 
  • Maretha O’Kennedy Senior Scientist, CSIR 
  • Simon Saxby CEO, Leaf Expression Systems Ltd BS Belinda Shaw Cape Bio Pharms
Commercialisation of Research and Development (R&D) outputs is a key issue for the 79 member countries of the OACPS as it is an essential lever for unlocking their innovation potential, accelerating their economic growth and increasing their competitiveness. Bringing to the market new products, services, processes and technologies developed through R&D activities can be a very complex and challenging process, as it requires investment (development, marketing, intellectual property management …), a thorough understanding of the market and the regulatory environment, networking expertise and good collaboration between researchers, industry leaders, government, society and investors. The debate focused on the following issues: (a) How to create an environment that promotes collaboration between academia, industry, government and civil society and accelerates the uptake of R&D outputs, (b) How government policies and regulations can best support the commercialisation of R&D outputs while also protecting the public interest (accessibility of new technologies and products, positive impact on people's lives, etc.).

  • Mr. Alioune Faye of VaRRIWA - Valorising Research Results and Innovation in West Africa
    Links between academia, the public and private sector, and civil society are strengthened to ensure that the results of research and innovation (R&I) are readily accessible and effectively disseminated, exploited and used. A research ecosystems will be created with actors who are active upstream (identification of R&I needs and development of solutions) as well as downstream (economic exploitation and application of solutions) taking into account national and regional R&I policies.

  • Mrs. Lionelle Ngo-Samnick of PDTIE project (Deployment of Environmental Technologies and Innovations for Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction), led by IFDD in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon, in partnership with Kongo University in the DRC, Eden Africa and Ingénieurs Sans Frontières in Cameroon.

    They shared their experiences and initial results achieved by their respective projects, whose main goal is creating an incentive environment for technology transfer, commercialisation of results and sustainable and green innovations by researchers and innovators. See interview 08/02/2023 
  • Mrs. Legena Henry, CEO of Rum & Sargassum, a company from Barbados involved in SarGASsum, one of the projects operating within the ACP Innovation Fund supported project HIT RESET (Caribbean region). The HIT RESET project aims to enhance the capacity of government entities, coastal development agencies and coastal communities to identify existing vulnerabilities, anticipate impacts, and plan and implement mitigation and adaptation measures, allowing coastal settlements to become more climate-smart and resilient.

    She talked about her company, a spin-off of research results generated at the Renewable Energy Development Laboratory (University of the West Indies), and how SarGASsum is contributing to commercialising the use of Sargassum (seaweed) for the production of biogas as a means towards the transition into green energy in Barbados.
  • Mr Mucktarr Darboe, Director of STI, Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, The Gambia. - He talked about the Policy Support Facility (PSF) service in The Gambia, the setting up of a national Innovation Fund, and how innovation funds, along with reinforcing Technology Transfer Offices, Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Offices, and establishing technoparks, etc., can improve the commercialisation of R&D outputs.

  • Mr Tom Peter Migun Ogada, Chairman of the Board of the Kenya National Innovation Agency (Kenya) - He testified about the Policy Support Facility (PSF) service in Kenya, its value in contributing to improving the commercialisation of R&D outputs in Kenya, and how the service recommendations have contributed to the launch of the Institutional Commercialisation Support initiative.


"Horizon Europe" is the worldwide biggest funding programe for research & innovation (95 billions of € between 2021-2027) and offers manifold options for projects in green topics, e.g. Decarbonisation, Environment, Food Value Creation, Circular Economy, Water, Climate Impact Research, Agriculture and Bioeconomy. Also partnes from outside Europe and the Global South (e.g. from Latin America, Africa and Asia) are eligible for being beneficiaries in European funded research and innovation projects.

European funding for research and innovation
  • Jackson Howard (EURAXESS North America, Washington D.C./United States): International cooperation under Horizon Europe
  • Dr Thomas Ammerl (BayFOR, Munich/Germany): European green calls for proposals: funding, challenges and support
Pitches on running EU-funded projects
  • Dr Emmanuel Benjamin (AGLOBE Development Center, Lagos/Nigeria): INtegrated and Circular Technologies for Sustainable city region FOOD systems in Africa (INCiTiS-FOOD)
  • Dr Jingshui Huang (Technical University of Munich, Munich/Germany): Water Efficient Allocation in a Central Asian Transboundary River Basin (WE-ACT)
  • Dr Brian Jonathan Young (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Buenos Aires/Argentina): A global approach for recovery of arable land through improved phytoremediation coupled with advanced liquid biofuel production and climate friendly copper smelting process (Phy2Climate)
  • Prof. Dr Ralf Ludwig (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich/Germany) or Prof. Chrysi Laspidou (University of Thessaly, Volos/Greece): Climate-resilient regions through systemic solutions and innovations (ARSINOE)
  • Prof. Joule Bergerson (University of Calgary, Calgary/Canada): System Assessment of LNG options from North America to the EU (CarbonNeutralLNG)
Panel discussion: "How to get involved in cutting-edge SDG-implementation projects around the world"
  • Bernhard Kowatsch (WFP Innovation Accelerator, Munich/Germany)
  • Janina Hanswillemenke (Universidad de la Frontera, Temuco/Chile)
  • Prof. Dr Ralf Ludwig (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich/Germany)
  • Sander Dolder (New York City Development Corporation, New York/United States)

25/09 Science capacity building for the future: defining the Skills Agenda


The growing interest in identifying future-ready human skills amidst rapid technological growth has inspired new cross-sector collaboration on education and skill development. This symposium addresses how we can make a more inclusive approach to science capacity building a critical part of the UN Summit of the Future in 2024. Issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity require urgent solutions informed by science.
  • Petter Næss Executive Director, Fulbright Foundation Norway
  • Larisa Schelkin NASA GLOBE Educator, UNITAR Global Diplomacy Faculty, New York/Global
  • STEM Education Center, Inc
  • Laila Sandroni Fellow, Conviva (T2S)
  • Tshiamiso Makwela Research Scientist and Postdoctoral Fellow, Internation Astronomy Union Office of Astronomy Education and University of Cape Town, Max Planck Institute for Astronom
  • Charles Takalana Head of Secretariat (AfAS) & Co-Chair: IAU-GA2024 National Organising Committee, African Astronomical Society (AfAS)
  • Rebecca Barnes AAAS STP Fellow, Belmont Forum
  • Ismahan Soukeyna DIOP Associate Professor of Psychology, Université Cheikh Anta Diop
  • Andres Villalba Ministry of Education and Universidad Gaston Dachary

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