Knowledge adaptation key to innovation

Lazarus Sauti

As innovation drives growth in emerging markets, African economies need to adapt. This is so because knowledge adaptation can help countries within and across the great African continent to build bridges between initiatives, researchers, policymakers and business leaders.

Knowledge adaptation simply refers to the process of changing knowledge so that it can be used for different purposes.

The overarching goal of knowledge adaptation should be to strengthen adaptive capacity and facilitate innovation in the continent and in the process solve problems that hinder progress.

To effectively solve problems bedeviling the continent, focus should be on establishing a continental system for sharing knowledge, and making it easy to understand and available to those who need it.

More so, spotlight should be on generating new knowledge national and regional policymakers can use as they plan for things such as climate change; and promoting the application of new and existing knowledge about climate change.

Important to note is the fact that access to relevant and usable knowledge is a vital prerequisite for successful and cost-effective knowledge adaptation actions. More so, the mobilisation and sharing of knowledge is therefore critical to informing adaptation decision-making, planning and practice.

It is critical to note that while much knowledge exists for successful action on adaptation, sadly in most African nation states, this knowledge is often fragmented and not always accessible to various stakeholders.

This fragmentation affects development in African countries since innovations in these countries are not based on new research findings.

“The bulk of innovations in African countries are not immediately based on new research findings, but on local or small-scale innovations through activities such as reverse engineering or translating available knowledge to home-grown needs,” says the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) report.

Accordingly, African countries should embrace knowledge adaptation and use it to meet some of the challenges that are hindering progress in the continent.

This process of changing knowledge so that it can be used for different purposes should enhance the mobilisation of knowledge for problem solving and at the same time strengthen the sharing of knowledge through the promotion and showcasing of innovative adaptation research, policies and actions.

This means the adaptation of scientific findings is of critical importance to improving the economic transformation of research findings in African countries.

Because of this, SIDA notes, “The adaptation of scientific findings to local needs is key to improving the economic impact of research funding in developing countries.”

Since innovations in most African countries are not based on new findings, support is needed to ensure that research leads to innovation and for this to be successful, science aid should target problem-driven research and include budget for monitoring and evaluation of all research and innovation activities.

Ana Gren, research advisor at SIDA believes that knowledge adaptation that involves all stakeholders in science, research and innovation is important for the socio-economic transformation of Africa and her citizenry.

Gren expresses it this way, “Inclusive development through innovation that improves quality of life in developing countries is of great importance.”

To harness knowledge adaptation for innovation, African governments should note the benefits of supporting high-quality scientific research geared towards promoting economic growth. This means that development players and stakeholders in the science fraternity should craft knowledge adaptation frameworks that aim to solve problems affecting the continent and at most improve the lives of Africans.

These frameworks should work well when research activities are initiated with local research partners, and when knowledge comes from local interests.

For instance, Gren notes. “A biotechnology project using a by-product of mushroom fermentation to treat waste water pollution should at most link academic research to a way of targeting a major agricultural problem in Africa.”

Amitav Rath, Chief Executive Officer of consultancy Policy Research International, shares the same view and believes: “Global research should be married to local communities for maximum local development impact.”

This also means that African governments should invest in problem-solving research since it increases the productivity of African economies.

Rath says: “Problem-solving research - as opposed to results published in journals - is an important part of increasing the productivity of specific sectors in developing countries.”

Rath goes on to say, “It is not enough to be in an ivory-towered world, hoping that somehow one’s enquiries will find application.”

The time is now for African countries to use locally available resources to fund problem solving research, identify development gaps and work hard to close those gaps. For this to happen, governments in countries within and across the entire African continent should spend more time and funding on evaluating ongoing research projects.

Rath says, “Without evaluation, the different stakeholders cannot learn and adapt their responses as the work evolves.”

Knowledge adaptation is a critical ingredient in the science and innovation recipe. Therefore, African countries should embrace this important development tool and use it to solve problems that are ravaging the continent well known as the cradle of humanity.