On Wednesday, 16 November, the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations (WAITRO) launched the WAITRO Africa Special Interest Group (SIG) during its biennial summit to herald a new era of global participation to address issues unique to the continent.

The summit was jointly hosted by the North-West University (NWU) and Stellenbosch University (SU) and took place at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West. The NWU is WAITRO’s regional focal point for Africa.

Among other goals, the SIG will provide a platform to coordinate African participation in WAITRO and create synergies with other research and technology organisations (RTOs) globally. It will also serve to further strengthen relations between African RTOs and improve cooperation for industrial development with other regions.

The SIG’s aim is to accomplish this through the creation of continent-focused research, innovation, technology and policy discussions, as well by facilitating training programmes for skills development among members in Africa, to name but a few.

In all, 29 African institutions are members of WAITRO and the SIG was launched under the theme of “Research, innovation and industrialisation for socio-economic impact in Africa”.

“The formation and launch of the WAITRO African SIG represents the culmination of years of effort and groundwork laid by the African RTOs within WAITRO, and signal the beginning of a new era of collaboration among African RTOs,” said Dr Bismark Tyobeka, principal and vice-chancellor of the NWU, in the lead-up to the event.

He further stated that the SIG will aid the African continent’s aim of achieving greater industrialisation for the region and contribute to the betterment of the lives of people on the continent.

“This is a rallying call that, although delayed in many aspects, would have satisfied the former president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. At the Organisation of African Unity Summit in 1963 he said: ‘We have been too busy nursing our separate states to understand fully the basic need of our union, rooted in common purpose, common planning and common endeavour. A union that ignores these fundamental necessities will be but a sham. It is only by uniting our productive capacity and the resultant production that we can amass capital’,” said Tyobeka.

He concluded by reaffirming that: “We are looking forward to supporting the WAITRO Africa SIG to achieve its objectives.”

The NWU's Dr Naledi Seheri-Jele with Dr Paul Burrows of WAITRO's secretariat.