Lets Kickstart the Laboratories with Innovation Centres

courtesy of scripts Fablab Soshanguwe 

Its been argued that innovation and "enterprise is everywhere but unseen" this is as much case in the informal economy as it is within the fledgling network of laboratories and research institutes sprinkled across the continent. The challenge of developing a viable science engine that feeds a robust autocatalysing ecosystem is not due to the lack of homegrown invention and discovery. The constraints range from a siloed culture that is somewhat divorced from its own indigenous productive clusters to a mentality that insists on traditional top down hierarchies and methodologies.

courtesy of reuters,Fablab Haiti

Might it not be more productive for centers of inquiry to embrace more distributed dynamic systems of practice? Put differently, more adaptive innovation centers? A type that interleaves open science fablab type approaches with diy-research facilities all of which embrace the academic as much as the maker? In other words freeing up the labs to more than just the traditional practitioners. Why not have the jua kali inform the engineering center and vice versa. Or propose that the IITA jump into bed with students of Teachamantofish,Working Villages, Songhai Centre etc? In parallel shouldn't we encourage the emergence of hackerspaces and fab academy's that delve into areas ranging from diybio to open hardware while hosting cafe scientifiques in conjunction with the local universities.
The essential point being made here is that we stifle innovation by adhering to failed sclerotic mechanisms. One cannot emphasize enough the need for creating environments which will breed the conditions necessary for the emergence of interdisciplinary cross pollination vertically and horizontally. A recent speech by White House official Thomas Kalil at World Maker Faire undergirds this evolving thinking as it pertains to the promise of manufacturing 2.0, it stated:

First -- what are the key cultural, social, technological and economic dimensions of the Maker Movement? Obviously -- it begins with the Makers themselves -- who find making, tinkering, inventing, problem-solving, discovering and sharing intrinsically rewarding. These Makers have a strong "Do It Yourself" and "Do It With Others" mindset -- and making is an important element of their personal identity. That's why the tag line of Make Magazine is "technology on your own time."...Economically -- we are seeing the early beginnings of a powerful Maker innovation ecosystem. New products and services will allow individuals to not only Design it Yourself, but Make it Yourself and Sell it Yourself. For example, Tech Shops are providing access to 21st century machine tools, in the same way that Kinkos gave millions of small and home-based business access to copying, printing, and shipping, and the combination of cloud computing and Software as a Service is enabling "lean startups" that can explore a new idea for the cost of ramen noodles.Makers are also becoming successful entrepreneurs. Dale just wrote a compelling story about Andrew Archer -- the 22-year-old founder of Detroit-based Robotics Redefined. As a teenager, Andrew started off entering robotics competitions and making printed circuit boards on the kitchen table. He is now building customized robots that transport inventory on the factory floors of auto companies. With more entrepreneurs like Andrew -- we could see a bottom-up renaissance of American manufacturing.

The report ( by McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health) that prompted this piece (see below) speaks to examples of these underutilized resources in African Labs. Written by Peter Singer and Ken Simiyu its findings contest that:

African Innovation: New Hope for Local Health Issues from McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Glo on Vimeo.

• Despite challenges, components of health innovation exist in Africa and, though limited,   diverse activity in health innovation is occurring;
• The emerging innovation systems are driven by local health concerns, not external interests. Local, regional and global dynamics affect health innovation;
• Institutions used innovative financing mechanisms and partnerships to their benefit;
• All countries put strong emphasis on plant medicine as a local asset for innovation
• Fundamental to success are investing in research and development to generate solution-oriented knowledge, providing incentives for entrepreneurs, and building institutional strength to help facilitate commercialization of research results;
• Africa's health innovation systems are increasingly integrated into the global knowledge ecology, and benefit from extensive international partnerships;
• Linkages between groups are sparse to date, but hold potential for building stronger health innovation systems. Business incubation through facilities such as science innovation centers will be an important mechanism for fostering industrial clustering and raising economic productivity.

They outline a myriad number of "stagnant " technologies which include:

• A low-cost dipstick technology developed at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Accra, Ghana, for quick, easy, village diagnosis of schistosoma, a parasitic disease that affects more than 50% of people in some areas of Africa.
• An herbal, anti-malarial medicine, Nibima, from a traditional plant Cryptolepis sanguinolenta, under development at the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicines, Ghana
• A product called Sunguprot in Kenya from the plant Tylosema Fassoglensis, whose developers claim it can help manage HIV symptoms. Lack of advanced scientific equipment to isolate compounds and funding to carry out clinical trials have affected further development and validation; and
• An easy-to-use, inexpensive, WHO-approved portable medical-waste incinerator, developed at Makerere University, Uganda, that could solve the problem of hospital waste management in rural areas, especially during mass polio immunization and similar programmes. The incinerator uses no fuel other than the medical waste and achieves temperatures of 800 degrees C.



Courtesy of Ken Simiyu, Medical Waste Incinerator Invented by Moses Musaazi of Makerere University

• Meanwhile, at the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology in Kenya, researchers have patented human odors that effectively repel mosquitoes. While there is a need to determine formulations through further research, negotiations are underway with a multinational company.

It concludes by making the following points:

"Our message to international agencies, donors and African governments: support these enterprises and nurture their potential, because they can make a major contribution to better health in developing countries – and to their own health. At the end of the day, this is about enabling people to solve their own problems, not only using science but also combining it with entrepreneurship."

In addition to the traditional players "international agencies, donors and African governments" we would argue for the inclusion of the participants and models mentioned earlier. They are already coalescing, why not work together?

Related articles

• Lack of support keeps African discoveries languishing in labs (nature.com)
• Blackwell on Health: African innovators need capital to develop health products (news.nationalpost.com)
• African health research has solutions but no support (newsinfo.inquirer.net)
• Studies detail triumphs, troubles of African innovators creating products for local health needs (eurekalert.org)
• Garage biotech: Life hackers (nature.com)