Reviving Indigenous Knowledge and Innovation in Africa

Grounded and Contextualized Comm Based Knowledge (May 2025) Lecture 3

Estimated read time: 1:20

Summary

In the third lecture of the 'Grounded and Contextualized Comm Based Knowledge' series, Osir University emphasizes the critical importance of reviving ignored and excluded indigenous knowledge for innovation and sustainable development in Africa. The discussion covers the integration of indigenous science, technology, and medicine with modern digital technology to create robust solutions for global challenges. Furthermore, the lecture highlights the need for a unified African sustainable development innovation system, urging a shift from neoliberal economic models towards ones that prioritize collective well-being, inclusivity, and indigenous contributions.

Highlights

Revive ignored and excluded indigenous knowledge for African innovation 🌍
Integrate indigenous technology with modern science to tackle global challenges 🔗
Re-envision economic models to prioritize well-being and inclusivity 🏆
Develop a unified African sustainable development innovation system 🌿
Incorporate indigenous knowledge in education systems across Africa 📖

Key Takeaways

Embrace indigenous knowledge fusion with digital tech for sustainable growth 🌳
Shift focus from neoliberal models to community-centric innovation and development 🙌
Harness Africa's rich resources and cultural heritage for innovation 🚀
Encourage policy changes to involve indigenous voices in developmental strategies 📜
Promote educational reforms to integrate indigenous knowledge in curricula 📚

Overview

In a captivating lecture, Professor Osiri from Osir University delves into the power of indigenous knowledge as a catalyst for innovation and sustainable development across Africa. Highlighting the rich, yet often overlooked, cultural heritage and scientific contributions of indigenous communities, he posits that leveraging such knowledge can redefine Africa's approach to economic growth and social progress.

Professor Osiri passionately argues that Africa's future should pivot away from western-centric economic models, which often emphasize profit and competition, towards more inclusive and community-oriented frameworks. By merging traditional ecological wisdom with cutting-edge technologies, particularly digital platforms, Africa can address pressing global challenges like climate change and inequality.

The lecture sets forth a visionary roadmap for African countries: unify disparate innovation systems, acknowledge and integrate indigenous insights into education, and foster policies that elevate community voices. This transformative approach could steer the continent towards a prosperous future, where economic gains align with cultural preservation and environmental stewardship.

Chapters

00:00 - 01:30: Introduction and Formalities The chapter titled 'Introduction and Formalities' begins with a speaker, presumably a professor, preparing to start a presentation. The speaker instructs their assistant to advance the slides when they say 'next.' They express gratitude and welcome the audience, mentioning the potential of Osir University and setting the stage for a productive discussion on inclusion.
01:30 - 02:30: Exclusion and Reviving Ignored Knowledge The chapter explores the concept of 'Exclusion and Reviving Ignored Knowledge.' It emphasizes the potential in reviving and utilizing rich, existing knowledge that has previously been ignored. The chapter suggests a new approach to thinking about development and economics, highlighting innovation and how these themes intersect with discussed issues.
02:30 - 06:30: Indigenous Science and Technology The chapter titled "Indigenous Science and Technology" explores the inclusion of traditionally excluded knowledge systems into mainstream definitions of various domains. The speaker argues for the redefinition of concepts such as innovation, development, economics, and technology through the lens of indigenous knowledge. The chapter opens with an inspiring introduction and delves into discussions on indigenous approaches to science, technology, medicine, and environmental studies.
06:30 - 11:30: New Approaches in Development Economics The chapter discusses new approaches in development economics, particularly focusing on African sustainable development. It emphasizes the need for creating an innovation system tailored for Africa, incorporating indigenous knowledge and inclusive community systems. The chapter suggests developing new theories and frameworks to foster sustainable development specific to the African context, utilizing both stewardship and the adaptation of current and future technologies. It proposes that these efforts be rooted in a national system of innovation to effectively support the region's growth and sustainability.
11:30 - 15:30: Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship This chapter begins with a discussion on the need for a sustainable development system of innovation. The speaker plans to conclude with suggestions on what Australian universities can do regarding indigenous knowledge, infused with inspirational suggestions. The chapter also references a book titled 'Putting Africa First.'
15:30 - 25:00: Challenges in African Innovation and Development The chapter titled 'Challenges in African Innovation and Development' discusses the inception and evolution of the Global Leaks Africa conference, which began in 2011. This conference was aimed at fostering innovation across Africa, with specific events in countries like Ethiopia and Nigeria. A key theme is the prioritization of Africa's own innovation systems, culminating in the publication titled 'The Making of African Innovation Systems' by a university press in 2003. The chapter underlines the necessity for a holistic approach to knowledge, innovation, and learning within the African context.
25:00 - 34:00: African Scholars and Intellectual Contributions The chapter discusses the cognitive and epistemological shifts needed in Africa, focusing on moving from a narrative of failure to one of innovation and success. It emphasizes the hybridization and revival of knowledge as means to renew and innovate within the African context.
34:00 - 47:00: Building African Sustainable Development Systems The chapter discusses the transition from failure to success in the context of African sustainable development systems. It introduces three key philosophical perspectives that form the 'reactionary thesises', which entail the 'perversity thesis', the 'futility thesis', and the 'joby thesis'. These are collectively referred to as 'the African dilemma' characterized by a sense of jeopardy, futility, and perversity that challenges efforts towards successful sustainable development.
47:00 - 51:00: Conclusion and Final Thoughts In the conclusion and final thoughts chapter, the text discusses three critical theses related to political, social, and economic actions: the perversity thesis, the futility thesis, and the jeopardy thesis. The perversity thesis claims that any progressive action intended to improve societal conditions may worsen the situation it aims to rectify. The futility thesis suggests that efforts towards social transformation are likely to fail and will not achieve meaningful change. Lastly, the jeopardy thesis argues that the perceived benefits of a proposed change or reform are outweighed by its costs and risks.

Grounded and Contextualized Comm Based Knowledge (May 2025) Lecture 3 Transcription

00:00 - 00:30 Okay, Prof. you may start now. Just just tell just just say next and I'll go to the next slide for you. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. Uh first and foremost I would very much like to welcome you and um I think this Osir University is going to be uh very very uh powerful I think and uh I'm hoping that today we'll have a very good discussion about how we can include the
00:30 - 01:00 excluded we can revive the ignored knowledge uh the rich knowledge that has been created that we haven't used but I would like to suggest to you a new approach uh about how even to uh think about development and economics all these things innovation uh all these issues we'll discuss today together
01:00 - 01:30 uh but when we try to include the excluded knowledge then then a new definition of innovation, a new definition of development, a new de definition of economics, a new definition of technology uh science is has to come. So I'll I would like to do that. So I'll start with an inspiration as I always do. Then I will uh I will discuss with you on indigenous science, technology, medicine and environmental
01:30 - 02:00 stewardships and then indigenizing present future technology. uh also will do that we frame new theories for African sustainable development and the innovation system for African sustainable development. We need to create new uh in uh an African sustainable development innovation system and indigenous knowledge inclus inclusive community system of innovation we need to try to develop and from from the national system of innovation we
02:00 - 02:30 need to the sustainable development system of innovation and then I'll try to make a concluding remark and uh we'll finalize with suggesting also what uh Australia University uh needs to do regarding indigenous knowledge there's some suggestion I will also recommend the inspirational suggestion that's what I'll do on the inspirations we wrote a book called putting Africa first uh we also had a
02:30 - 03:00 conference in 200 um uh 11 uh and that's when we started uh this global leaks Africa many conference. Now we're now doing Ethiopia, Nigeria, many things like that we're developing and we put putting Africa first, the making of African innovation systems. And this was all university press published it in 2003. We said we need to go for a total knowledge, innovation, learning and
03:00 - 03:30 capability building road. Create a new cognitive and epistemological reorientation in Africa from failure speak. always Africa is is seen as failure never success to enter into innovation innovation victory speak and that's what we want to uh go now today with by hybridizing all the knowledge that's required reviving and excavating it we can actually renew Africa to make
03:30 - 04:00 it to move away from failure to success to come to success the three principle reactive reactionary thesises are uh which I call the per perversity thesis or the thesis of the perverse effect the futility thesis and the joby thesis these are the African dilemma we are in jeopardy there's futility and the perversity
04:00 - 04:30 affects us according to the perversity thesis any propressive action to improve some feature of the political social and economic order only to exasperate the condition one wishes to remedy. This is a problem. The futility thesis holds that attempts at social transformation will be unavailing that they will simply fail to make a dent. And finally, the geoperty thesis argues that the cost of the proposed change or reform is too
04:30 - 05:00 high as it endangers some previous precious accomplishment. This is very very important. We in Africa suffer a lot because we don't realize the potential the knowledge everything that was created from us is not used properly to remove perversesity geoperty f utility and the next inspiration is a significant potential for advancing sustainable development lies at the
05:00 - 05:30 intersection of indigenous knowledge and information technology. Digital knowledge systems encompassing traditional ecological knowledge, cultural practices and community- based approaches provide valuable insights into sustainable resourcement and environmental stewardship. This is a very good quote from a guy called Johnson Troy. The next one, let's create the required holistic innovation system to make the future to be anchored by
05:30 - 06:00 drawing lessons from the mistakes of the past and the present to develop human life for all without inequality, poverty and unemployment to bring full decent well-being for both people and nature with peace, justice, safety and security. This is critically important and indigenous knowledge helps us. Indigenous knowledge with digital technology can create robust solutions for addressing climate change, biodiversity conservation, sustainable
06:00 - 06:30 arbiture among other global challenges highlighted by the United Nations sustainable development goals through 17 objectives 169 targets. The s sustainable development goals encompass a broad spectrum of targets including environmental sustainability and equitable social development. Acknowledging and incorporating indigenous knowledge in in in uh information technology research can also promote inclusivity giving voice to
06:30 - 07:00 indigenous communities and recognizing their contributions to global knowledge systems. This is a quote from a Chinese sky. He wrote it in 2024 very recent. The question is how can we create transformative innovation that will make the livelihood and well-being of the people the priority priorities by excavating and reviving indigenous knowledge. That's quite an important issue. The inclusion and sustainable future can
07:00 - 07:30 create potential synergies of integrating indigenous knowledge and uh information technology for preserving, disseminating and integrating indigenous knowledge while respecting cultural and digital sovereignty and enhancing global sustainability efforts. By bridging traditional indigenous knowledge with modern digital technology, opportunities exist to develop solutions that are not only effective but also ethically grounded and culturally appropriate.
07:30 - 08:00 Very very important that we do a solution like that. Do not go for predicting the future. Choose to make the future with innovation. All Africans can shape the future by transforming the relation between Africans and machines by innovating to innovate new business models and processes, new ecosystems, applying big data, internet of things and artificial intelligence to improve how to live and work. We have now more information and
08:00 - 08:30 technology than what previous generations had in their lifetime. So we also need to not be distracted by indigenous by not indigenous knowledge by by internet of things digital technology but let's try to even connect it and hybridize it with our indigenous knowledge. Time now to redevelop development and reinovate innovation and change economics to include a new validation and success with environmental, social,
08:30 - 09:00 education, health gains to the monetary, market and commercial gains. We need to the economic gain alone is not good. We must also validate by including with the speed of light square by removing the gravity burden burden of just going for commercial advantage, market advantage, profit, many money-making advantage. We must change that. Time to rethink innovation and development.
09:00 - 09:30 Integrating these concerns with innovation systems and development requires rethinking both the whole innovation system that has been developed approach as well as existing development economic theories that emerged after decolonization with aid loans debts and foreign outward and inward investments. Look what we face with in Africa. I just read from the international monetary fund the countries about 15 countries in a in Africa the huge debt they they were not
09:30 - 10:00 able to pay from uh the international monetary fund is incredible. I was just amazed and how much they they owe and this is not good. There's a need to conceptualize and reframe both innovation and development to get out of this loan aid and debt dilemma. So we rethinking innovation and development. Now we can create transformative innovation that will make the health, livelihood and well-being of the people and the protection of nature the
10:00 - 10:30 priority of priorities. We need a new research productivity paradigm to address these concerns with new conceptual frames and theories. If we integrate these challenges with innovation systems and development, first and foremost, there's a need to do rethinking both the whole innovation system approach that's currently going on as well as the existing development economics theories that emerged in Africa after decolonization with aid, loans, debts, and foreign outward and inward investments. We have to change
10:30 - 11:00 this now. And how do we change it? The rethinking innovation and development. There's a need to reconceptualize and reframe both innovation and development by unifying the health, well-being, the social, economic, knowledge, production value chain process to sustain both people and nature. Reinoate innovation, redevelop development to reconceptualize and re theorize a unified integrated innovation and original sustainable
11:00 - 11:30 novel development theory must include indigenous knowledge, indigenousled conservation and stewardship refers to environmental practices and initi initiatives guided by indigenous knowledge values and traditional ecological wisdoms. We must do that for when we redevelop innovation, redevelop development, indigenous knowledge must be included include indigenous knowledge. The concept of indigenous science is that it uses science process
11:30 - 12:00 skills guided by community values and composed of traditional knowledge practices practiced in communities serving as a foundation for indigenous science development even before modern tools and structures. Indigenous science has contributed to advanced science technology by providing knowledge about environmental resources and helping relate local knowledge to modern science. Indigenous science has also historically contributed to predicting
12:00 - 12:30 what and other areas. Agriculture, health, all areas, you know, weather patterns, uh, you know, our sea, our land, our water, everything has been affected. irrigation it by the indigenous knowledge practice is earth rich but we don't know it we don't explore it we don't study it we don't include in the education system we failed I think now with Osir University the new curriculum has to be developed very strongly now not just the courses
12:30 - 13:00 we just do now but even more systematically to make it even more available to all other universities in Africa we need to Africanize our universities too that's something we need to do as well. Now, indigenous technology in like indigenous science, indigenous technology has cultural and knowledge preservation. Using indigenous technology allows for preserving traditional knowledge and cultural practices, promoting pride in local heritage and keeping valuable skills
13:00 - 13:30 passed down through generations. Generations of knowledge have been done. People have for thousand humanity was originated from Africa. What didn't we create? So much knowledge has been created. But this knowledge is not something we now use. Others use it and deny that we have created it. So we need to also revive this knowledge included even in our innovation system that we need to design that I'm going to recommend for you now. Thank you. Continue. A few examples of indigenous
13:30 - 14:00 science. Some examples of indigenous knowledge include using animal behaviors and astronomy to predict weather, herbal medicine, food preservation, irrigation systems, agriculture techniques tailored to the environment. Indigenous science and technology can contribute and hybridize with modern science. Very nicely they could do that. and indigenous medicine. The World Health Organization defines traditional medicine as a sum total of the
14:00 - 14:30 knowledge, skills and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures whether ex explicable or not used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention diagnosis improvement and treatment of physical and mental illness. This is fascinating but the most interesting thing is I don't know why the world has organization uh was um sometimes when you know the
14:30 - 15:00 this uh covid-19 came u there were you know um uh attempts by some of our our countries in Africa to use traditional medicine to actually deal with it but world health organization was uh saying this is not allowable. I don't understand why they say something like this. Acknowledge traditional medicine, indigenous medicine, indigenous based knowledge
15:00 - 15:30 medicine, but at the same time don't do it. So there's inconsistency is incredible. It's it is traditional knowledge. Traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the fork beliefs. Traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the fork beliefs of various societies including indigenous uh uh you know practices also. So innovation must be redefined. Innovation has been defined with novelty and usefulness. Something new and something
15:30 - 16:00 useful is what they say innovation is. But how have novelty and usefulness been validated? They have been validated narrowly by I mentioned to you by commerce and market and profit. The validation criteria for both novelty and usefulness has to be transformed. There should be an inclusive an inclusion of well-being, service provision, indigenous knowledge, environmental protection, humanitarian criteria above
16:00 - 16:30 the current dominant validation by merely market, commerce and economics, including the current dominating e-commerce expansion that we are facing it within new technology and development. Development should not be measured merely by economic growth. A country may have rapid economic growth but not development that transforms, performs and reforms the livelihood of the people. Development should also be reconceptualized beyond aid, loans and debts. A country with huge debt faces a
16:30 - 17:00 challenge to pay debt despite whatever level of economic development it can find itself in. Development should be anchored on how the well-being of people and nature are promoted to create where no citizen begs, where no one starves and where no one is homeless and all have opportunities to learn and work to make everyone live a decent life. That's a new approach, a new definition, a new uh appro uh way by which we can link
17:00 - 17:30 innovation with development is very very important. We have a journal on innovation development when we formed global the global network on the economics of innovation learning contest building systems we developed it. We also have Africa links the a you know we have uh the African again learning contest building in innovation system again and we are now developing Nigeria many and psycholics psycholics we have I was uh I gave a keynote there both for
17:30 - 18:00 Nigerian thing we're supporting it and now we're doing in in June 134 I you should participate Alex is also being founded and we'll all be there to do it. So a new a new way by which we can un to rethink and relearn it very nicely. A new hybrid synthesis imagination is needed. There's a need now to build new synergy between development and innovation system. Economic gain to make profit is not
18:00 - 18:30 sufficient. There must be social well-being gain. Hybridative knowledge gain and environmental protection gains. Synergize informal with formal economy. indigenous with modern modern all knowledge and not merely prioritize the economic variable by excluding the social environmental and knowledge gains to undertake both innovation and development. I think we need to do something. Unity of knowledge needed. The development and innovation theories have evolved mainly dominated by narrow economic field neoliberal economics.
18:30 - 19:00 There is a need to generate problem based knowledge creation by applying all the disciplines using the unity of knowledge. We need a unified conceptual framing and theories linking innovation system with tangible, measurable, developmental, comprehensive outcomes is what we need in Africa. We need a new approach, a new development, a new innovation approach to really do this. Otherwise, we're in a we'll continue to be copying and then being messed up by all these external actors that continue
19:00 - 19:30 to interfere and make us uh uh borrow debt but and then prefer the say that we they should give us aid when they actually take so much from us. Also, change is urgent. Both the ontology and the epistemology axiology of innovation with development need transformation by rethinking them to address the challenge the world is going through now. We have now digital
19:30 - 20:00 gangisters and cyber crime and social media a wash with unregulated explosion of all kinds of morally emotionally not intelligent information. There's a need for transformation that can contribute a well-being anchor development of both humans and nature in our Africa very much. We need it very much now more than any other time in this uh time of the four industrial revolution. We have to do this very much. Okay. Africa needs this change. We have been working on how to
20:00 - 20:30 apply this transformative innovation and development to in the to the African context. The book we produced uh on putting Africa first and making of African innovation system highlighted the critique of the current development promoted by both national and international organizations. No imitation of national innovation for Africa. No imitation of development economics for Africa. African needs a contextually anchored new model that synthesizes innovations and African integrated sustained development innovation system that re richly uh
20:30 - 21:00 endows itself also with with uh the indigenous knowledge. The challenge Africa faces now there is a need to undertake a rethinking and rein invention of innovation and development from their current pattern to the transformative new synthesis by taking the challenges Africa faces to discover how the problems will be resolved by creating innovative and developed well-being anchored Africa to serve
21:00 - 21:30 above all the people and nature together. Africa continues to face the challenge of remaining in the raw material, agricultural and mineral primary level global value chain. Sorry, sorry, I'm in a in a meeting. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm in a meeting, please. Yes. Yes. No, no. No, no, sorry. Sorry, sorry. Yeah, sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry. Africa
21:30 - 22:00 needs to construct an integrated,worked and unified sustainable development innovation system path by coming together rather than by going alone facing the prisoners dilemma being caught within the boundaries of each of the 55 states. a new innovative approach to handle the rich resources and how to create both production applying high technology and innovation and creating consumption by making the African production to conserve value chain is
22:00 - 22:30 much needed to address now more than at any time as the global value chain is changing dramatically with the force industry revolution. Okay, continue sustainable development innovation system with both social innovation and social entrepreneurship. We define social innovations as new ideas, products, services and models that simultaneously meet social needs and create new relationships of collaborations. We need it. This is exactly fits very well with our
22:30 - 23:00 indigenous knowledge and our indigenous culture. In other words, and our community culture. In other words, they are innovations that are both good for society and enhance society's capacity to act. So social innovation is novel solution to a social problem that's more effective, efficient, sustainable or just or just than existing solutions and for which the value created occurs primarily to society as a whole rather
23:00 - 23:30 than private individuals. This is what I quoted also from some people who have now studying sustainable development innovation system with social innovation. Social entrepreneurship. Okay. Social um entrepreneurship means the marriage of good business principles with the desire to solve social problems, improve the environment and empower communities and contribute to charity. It is all about creating double and triple bottom line
23:30 - 24:00 companies that do well while doing good. Nonprofits making profits. Profit makers showing they are not all in it for the money. Entrepreneurship that combines both monetary and social returns. Commercial entrepreneurship goes for monetary returns. Social for both monetary and social returns. So we need a new social entrepreneurship and social innovation. Innovation uh innovation development system with social entrepreneurship.
24:00 - 24:30 Combine economic gain with social gain. Distinguishing characteristics to validate success. Private private value versus social value. Private gain versus social gain. We we must not go only for private value. For private gain, we must also add social value and social gain. Combining philanthropy with commerce. Social entrepreneurship is the activity of establishing new business ventures to achieve social change. The business
24:30 - 25:00 utilizes creativity and innovation to bring social, financial, service, educational and other communities. That's what it does. So it it's quite important that he does that. Challenge to address uh to change economic development. We start with Adam Smith. Adam Smith is said to be the first development economist. His 1770 World of Nations is said to be the first treaties on development economics. No society can
25:00 - 25:30 surely be flourishing and happy of which by far the greater part of the numbers are poor and miserable. That's what he said. The greatest improvement in the productive powers of labor, the greater part of the skill, dexterity and judgment with which it is anywhere directed or applied seems to have been the effects of the division of labor. This is what he says in his book called the words of nations written in 1976. Okay. No, I think it's before
25:30 - 26:00 that. Core economic conceptual frames division of labor. He says what he recommends free market the invisible hand minimal state for providing security rule of law and some public goods. Private economy individual free trade trans transition fromative to advanced society getting the above activated to stimulate and sustain growth. This is what he recommends. Neoliberal origins of development the entire neoliberal
26:00 - 26:30 economics is Adam Smith. A free market driven by the pursuit of self-interest through a series of unintended consequences known as an invisible hand begins a system of economic relations and social organizations that surpass any based on altruism in the production of economic wealth and social harmony. for promoting economic growth. Efficient less cost allocation of scarce resources for produ producing goods and services. Perfect competition, perfect markets,
26:30 - 27:00 consumer sovereignty, automatic price adjustments. This is made on utility calculation and profit maximization, equilibrium outcomes in product, resource markets, economic rationality, purely materialistic individualistic self-interested orientation toward economic decision. This is neoliberal economics. This is the dominant economics that guides the world at the moment. The entire western world is driven by neoliberal economics. So the econom from Adam Smith individual
27:00 - 27:30 self-interest is number one. Division of labor is very important. Invisible hunt minimal state free trade exchange value comparative advantage in trade and the private economy individual. All good for creating abundance. He says serving society zero sum game between individual nation people, country, society and human. This is what he recommends as the economics that others countries must follow. Okay. And from economics from Frederick Lee this is a very interesting he's a German he's amazing. He
27:30 - 28:00 completely opposes u Adam Smith national interest. He says union of labor rather than division of labor. resist productive power, preference and access from the private to the national economy, infant industry, protection of national economy, from international trade, national unification and economic development. This is what he recommends for Germany. At that time when there was competition between Britain and Germany and at that time Germany was behind,
28:00 - 28:30 Britain was advanced. And so he says if it's just free trade it means Germany will only export what its natural resources and Britain will take it and add value and sell it to us at higher price. No we must not do that. He said, "Whoever desires to know and investigate how one nation from a state of poverty and barbarism has attained to one of wealth and prosperity and how another has fallen from a condition of wealth and well-being into one of poverty and
28:30 - 29:00 misery has always after receiving the information that labor is a cause of wealth and idol is a cause of poverty to put further question what are the causes of labor and what are the causes of idleness." This is what he wrote in his book called the theory of power productive the theory of values in the national system of economy that's political economy he did there's another one called shrimp paper another German also uh he also I think he had to leave
29:00 - 29:30 Germany uh both of them also were struggling even Frederick Listar also to go to America and so on shimped too he created what's called creative destruction business cycles, development, role of entrepreneurs. He called it Mark one mark to evolution and change, technological innovation and new combination, research and development and institutions. He says economic leadership in particular must be distinguished he says from invention as long as they are not carried into
29:30 - 30:00 practice. Inventions are economically irrelevant and to carry any improvement into effect is a task entirely different from investing in it and a task requiring moreover. Yes. Uh to come list contribution list says a national political economy facing constraints needs to find a way to organize transformation. Those that trade in the raw materials and agriculture remain underdeveloped. That's our situation in
30:00 - 30:30 Africa. We are still in no materials and agriculture. Those that build productive power have made it. USA, Germany, Japan, East Asian tigers. The lesson is clear. If a nation wants to develop, it has to organize its national system of political economy with the logic of steming rapidly and comprehensively productive power. Otherwise, it can have very rich minerals and agriculture, natural resources, territorial size will remain underdeveloped. This is Africa.
30:30 - 31:00 He explains it amazingly about Africa. Adam Smith's contribution. He says, "Open your economy. Exchange that which you have a comparative advantage. Do not interfere. Oh no. Sorry. Come back. I lost. Hello. Are you there? I think I we lost you.
31:00 - 31:30 Hello. Hi bro. What happened? I lost the the PowerPoint. Uh maybe respond. What happened? Did Did he He had a network issue. Huh? Network.
31:30 - 32:00 Who who is displaying it for you? It's uh professor Kuh. He's not on I'm sure it's network. It's network. The network must have taken. He's not on the system now. He'll return. Yeah. Hold on. I'll let me call him. I'll call him right at night now. Yeah. Please call him. Okay. Thank you.
32:00 - 32:30 I think I got kicked out. You got him. Is he back?
32:30 - 33:00 Yes. Yes, I'm back. Yeah. Oh, you're back. Okay. Can Can you bring Can you put the PowerPoint again? Yeah. Let me try again. Please. I'm sorry about that. Sorry. It happens always. I'm in. I hope it I get scared also sometimes. My might I don't know whether sometimes electricity goes down. Yeah.
33:00 - 33:30 Okay. Um, can you see it? Yes, I can see it now. Okay. Go down. Go down to uh to uh Yeah. Adam Smith contribution. Let let me Okay. Give me one second. Come to list contribution. He's left again. Okay. Are you back?
33:30 - 34:00 Yeah. Okay. Yeah, he's back. Okay. Great. Can you see? Yes. Leont. No, just leave it there. Le contribution. No. No. Yes. Okay. Okay. Uh, okay. This is what Adam Smith says. Open your economy. Exchange that which you have a comparative advantage in. Do not interfere with the economy of the individual. Do not use the state to
34:00 - 34:30 organize the economy of the nation. Use the invisible hand to get economic success and visibility. This is neoliberalism. Lesson for Africa from Smith. Accept the current international division of labor. Hope for the best. The best may not come but persist until it comes. That's what his advice is to us. meaning Africa at the moment must be uh continue to use its minerals and agricultural products to the rest of the world. Shrimp's contribution creative destruction
34:30 - 35:00 entrepreneurial new combination entrepreneurial new combinations through corporate R&D and evolutionary change through combating technological innovation science technology engineering mathematics innovation knowledge learning evolution entrepreneur cycles technological innovation for development that's what he says and so now relevance to development economics the three thinkers the smidian thought dominates the neoliberal economic growth strategy mainstream economics promotes econom
35:00 - 35:30 yes can you hear me yes go ahead please okay medium thought dominates the neoliberal economic growth strategy mainstream economics promotes economic decision-m by individuals maximizing utility comparative advantage comes as not uh industrial strategy in smidian thought of economic development that's amazing So this thought is strong on preferring state direction of industrial strategy
35:30 - 36:00 politics and power relevant in economic decision making. That's what he says. Sheter he says embed technology economic development and address the sociological fact of creating new firms and destroying older ones. important said uh shimper to indigenize knowledge policy and strategy together. See that's what they do. So choices for economic
36:00 - 36:30 development for economic development less Adam Smith means more state and industrial strategy less market for driving economic development forward and upward. More of least means productive power state and industry. More of shimper means more innovation, learning capability, knowledge and technology to apply. So the the different economic development approaches, mainstream influential development, influence development, deficiency correcting capability
36:30 - 37:00 development, political economy frame uh economic development, evolution and innovation based economic development, political economy and innovation for economic development, evolution, political economy, innovation for economic development. You have many choices that are in the how to do the development economics and we in Africa are confused where external actors really influence us a lot from mainstream deficiency correction. There was a guy called Amata he got a Nobel
37:00 - 37:30 Prize. He acknowledged what he calls thematic deficiency at the core of development economic theorizing mainly in the way such theories have ignored core issues of development. That s thought should not have been ignored. That's what he says. The ignorement is s listen capability building theme seems to resonate with resonate well with this theory of productive power. You see productive power there's there's social
37:30 - 38:00 capital plus capital there's financial capital there's physical capital and the key one the most important one is productive power which is which is a social capital and that's what this s the list also recommend so capability is built on the premise of the economy the individual and least productive power is to improve progress and develop a nation. That's what he did it for
38:00 - 38:30 Germany. Police at least economic development is in reality the analysis of the economic progress of nations. In reality, that appears to be what economics as a whole is designed to be about. You see, that's what he he actually has a a different approach that's much uh different from the dominant economics which is based from economics. Okay. Continue. towards framing new theories of economic development. Now we we need to do that the theory of productive
38:30 - 39:00 power by list and innovation by shuna can provide both thematic extension to both sense capability theme and help to address the deficiencies in development economic theories that I mentioned to you. Key insights from an intelligent synthesis of productive power plus capability plus evolution economics and systems of can provide a new foundation for a new theoretic framework of development economics. Experience, history, context and specific concerns, passion, sentiment, purpose and project
39:00 - 39:30 matter. For example, development economics has to take into account for Africa where it has been, where it is now, where it's is going to go and have to uh proceed uh and and where to be connected, what what the Africa is going to deal with. All these things have to be framed very nicely to make sure that we generate a very profound economic development. That's
39:30 - 40:00 what we need to do. Okay. S's attempt to improve. Amata s argued concentration of national products, aggregate income, total supply of public goods, capital accumulation, the creation of surplus may be necessary but not sufficient to get development that includes the least advantage. He says he stressed entitlements of people and capabilities these entitlements generate as a relevant thematic choices for development economics. He said sin was
40:00 - 40:30 against poverty. S say that the process of economic development has to be cons concerned with what people can and cannot do or to use his words have reason to value and choose to do. That's what he recommended and an integrated unified innovative path. Africa remains an agricultural and mineral based economy where much of the export is from the minds of African countries and farmland. It's at the primary stage of the global value chain. in this climb up by catching up along the global value chain
40:30 - 41:00 of breaking through it by creating an integrated sustainable smart and innovative path by applying a network unified integrated sustainable new path of African development. So we need a new one. The current trade at present agriculture manufactures services the informal and formal economy are weakly integrated. Nearly all the current African states agriculture has remained the primary occupation for the majority of African population with manufacturing growing very unevenly and slow and
41:00 - 41:30 services also growing in some states more than manufacturing. Informal sector can generate employment and job opportunities. knowledge generation and innovative activities in the informal sectors need to be acknowledged and done. That is where and the informal sector is where the indigenous knowledge is also very high bifurcated informal formal economy. The informal and formal economies are bifurcated and not connected. The indigenous knowledge is not connected with the scientific knowledge. The informal is very large.
41:30 - 42:00 The formal is smaller in most states. time to use digitalization to integrate agriculture manufacturing services to enter into the global value chain that's going through a dution that's creating our products and services sensors in this digitalization time. Okay. A paradigm shift needed. Africa cannot remain an economy mainly and largely that exports primary resources uh minerals and agriculture. The unified
42:00 - 42:30 and network innovation system is needed to make Africa catch up in the current global value chain. Time to bring and provide a new paradigm of innovation and development which is now much needed to empower, enable, capacitate and anchor the well-being of the African people, nature and nature without fail. Okay, continue. Recognize Africa has origin orig originated many discoveries in the informal economy has come out knowledge that has provided for
42:30 - 43:00 the pharmaceutical industry, traditional medicine, science, mathematics and astronomy and rehabilitative and restorative justice. Look, the indigenous knowledge is very rich Africa. We're not using it. We need to resist claims that with indigenous knowledge innovation. There's I mentioned to you this before all nonwestern science scientific is what this guy called Lford who was a Brit South African who end up in Britain they
43:00 - 43:30 could not been any different he said in his book on natural nature of science ethosentism advocate Gree seen as a cradle of western science eurosentrism proves the Greek origin of western science you see our indigenous knowledge is very rich we haven't excavated it but others still uh use it the um and then deny that they have taken it from us. So we have to also really uh be aware of this and this rejection about us also we need to resist it very very strongly. I
43:30 - 44:00 know the uh Satima um and blackena Bernard all others have written many books but we don't use it in the education system very well to counter it very much. So all indigenous knowledge has been rejected seeing all knowing of European cultures as primitive. White people to have an obligation to rule the world. The white man's burden that the west must provide
44:00 - 44:30 cultural development to others coming from the northwest. The west must help others to become western by encouraging them to adopt western ways that modernization to become or not to be westernized or europanized. The dominance of euroentrism non- acknowledgement of non western science by both westernness and non-westernness is a serious challenge harvest indigenous knowledge with innovation. We need to now do a new innovation approach to handle the rich resources and how to
44:30 - 45:00 create both production applying high technology and innovation and creating consumption by making the African production consumption value chain is much needed to address now more than at any time to bring back both the informal economy and indigenous knowledge. It's a double challenge. Africa is rich. Africa continues to be robbed. In 2012, the best year of recorded data, poor countries received a total of 1.3 trillion including all aid, investment,
45:00 - 45:30 and income from abroad. But that same year, some 3.3 trillion blowed out of them. In other words, developing countries sent two trillion more to the rest of the world than they received. Since 1980, this net outflows add up to staggering total of 16.33 trillion. That's how much money has been bled out of the global south including Africa over the past few decades. This is what is going on.
45:30 - 46:00 Continue. How to do innovation to free rich Africa from robbery. And yes, it's trillions. Add in the massive corruption enabled by western interests plus the violent codes and conflicts that western interest facilitated over 246 crits in Africa. And there's one conclusion. Rich countries aren't developing poor countries. Poor countries are developing rituals. This is a guy called Geral Kaplan. He wrote it in 2017. And please
46:00 - 46:30 also read his book called Africa is betrayed. He wrote he I read his book is amazing book. Please read it. I wish Africa is betrayed is the name of the book. Now we you must know that innovation is varied. Innovation the standard meaning there's frugal innovation. This is again on the indigenous no innovation disruptive is again indigenous sustainable innovation is indigenous broad-based is indigenous grassroots is indigenous both of the pyramid is innovation is indigenous
46:30 - 47:00 inclusive is indigenous catalytic is indigenous innovation is indigenous and even gandhian or jugat hindi word instead of frugal is is also sometimes used. So there are many indigenous knowledge in innovative on the innovation sphere. They are all different words for expressing the need for inclusion. Achieving more with fewer resources. Reducing complexity and cost of products to reach over overlooked consumers or stakeholders. Improve quality of products but also reducing
47:00 - 47:30 cost at the same time. Creating new markets and value networks. But this disrupts existing markets and other networks. Sustaining innovation not create but add better value to existing markets and networks where the com competi competition focuses on who sustains better than others uh rather than creates new markets and validators. Whatever adjective one uses uh the main objective of all these words is to make innovation inclusive. The challenge of
47:30 - 48:00 systems of innovation framing. It matters how a system of innovation is designed for social inclusion, community inclusion, indigenous knowledge inclusion and consumer inclusion or any variety of social groups one wishes to include or even ecology removing spatial disparity or or all of them. System of innovation inclusion matters more as it relates who is focused upon who is not amongst all the components that enter to the making innovation system. As a system innovation provides a focusing
48:00 - 48:30 device that what the system focuses on what it uh it fails uh to focus on matter that also influences how the very components of the system are included and what are not included that's very very important continue we need an African sustainable development systems we need a new system I'm recommending now uh original contribution building an inov Innovation and development system transform the
48:30 - 49:00 African informal economy and agriculture economic landscape. The application of the innovation approach to transform the informal economy and African agriculture mineral economic structure. We need include indigenous knowledge. All this that I mentioned to you. We need a new African innovation and sustainable development system. I call it seeds. Now seeds is seeds integrates economic growth with economic development. The seats is a broad approach that includes
49:00 - 49:30 all the stakeholders from the informal to the formal economic structure that shape knowledge, learning, innovation and capacity building. Clicks seeds brings an integrated approach to economic development by overcoming the fragmented policy fractionalization and polarization the poverty inequality and so on. States chance such policy formulations such as proour. All right. The poor must cons must concern all um
49:30 - 50:00 must concern all not only the the poor. It integrates both the quality of demand as well as the supply of knowledge for innovation that includes indigenous knowledge broadening innovation system into scenes. All innovations have elements components and paths. All innovations have linkages interconnections and interactions. All innovations have boundaries special sectoral technological. Houses selected are very relevant to create a self- sustaining social
50:00 - 50:30 economic arrangement all and all all elements need integrating. We need to do it like that. If we do a broadening innovation system with a sustainable innovation development system in Africa this is a new approach a new model approach that we can generate and do and I hope the African Union can listen to us. uh we send them this but they don't listen sometimes you know they I don't know why identify key components that enter into uh making the
50:30 - 51:00 sustain the seeds sustainable innovation developments conceptual frame or governance policy setting actors that engage identify specific focusing boundary for system generation national sectoral regional community institutions knowledge bind indigenous knowledge and STEM, science, technology, engineering, innovation, technologies, hard and soft activities, incentives, all these have to be com these
51:00 - 51:30 components have to be integrated systematically uh linked and all the variables have to be identified and then evaluated. Thank you. Continue. So creatings when the nine elements identified interact in space and time they can span a systemic behavior. The interaction that emerges can be designed as a system of innovation depending on the level to be considered if the boundary sector or a region or a nation
51:30 - 52:00 a city or globe. We can variously designate the relevant boundary interaction as a sectoral level of innovation system national innovation system or global innovation system. But in the context of Africa, we need to make it the African united innovation system. S African sustainable innovation development system. So selecting uh an SD system boundary as a focusing device is challenging. Boundaries range especially from local to city,
52:00 - 52:30 community, region, national and global. Where to draw the boundary? Who to include? Who not to exclude? Boundaries if related to production, industry, firms, sectors, global firms. Boundaries if related to techn technology, high-tech, low tech and intermediate, even now digital technology also boundaries within a country or nation, urban, ruler, industrial, agriculture, high-tech, medium tech, low tech, technology, absorbing, absorbing or technology generating. on boundaries can
52:30 - 53:00 be narrow to exclude or broader to include innovation system for for indigenous knowledge system inclusion innovation system for social inclusion boundaries are not necessarily fixed they can be flexible and amenable to intelligent adjustment we have this challenge we need to address it in a systematic way variations in system of innovation development system of u of innovation making process the degree of functioning of a system innovation is
53:00 - 53:30 not only dependent on the quality and strength of interactions. It also depends on the quality of the actors interaction, the politics of the actors, the politics of governing. This is our biggest problem in Africa, the nature of the interaction. The politics is rough. The expected outcome can be any goal set such as economic development, growth, social cohesion, knowledge production. But the way the politics of system building plays out heavily influences the output and outcome. That's a danger the risk we have. Okay.
53:30 - 54:00 Continue. Uh seats focusing in including the excluded. Are the included selected elements specifically related to innovation creation, absorption, transfer and adaptation or not? Does the interaction facilitate certain outcomes and hinder others? Does the interaction lock in the system of innovation to certain paths of development? How and who facilitates systemic openness? How can the system building prevent locking
54:00 - 54:30 out potential paths of development that may come from outside the system? For example, the opportunity to harness community and informal level and broad-based innovation by lockout is very important. That is where the our indigenous knowledge also is locked out. We need to bring it in. The excluded must be included. focusing on that including the excluded in African uh system of innovation development low-income economies
54:30 - 55:00 uh in Africa the community is often neglected nearly 70% of the people live in rural communities with nearly 20% of GDP gross domestic product the community is a key site of well-being and economic and cultural life there's thus a need to add community university along with the public and private sectors something like a community system of innovation where private sector the university community and local government join convert knowledge for stimulating
55:00 - 55:30 grassroots innovation by excavating what people know by reviving and excavating innovatively all the people the local knowledge they know the indigenous knowledge they know we need to in incentivize them to twin the politics and economics in Africa to support such developments from red seeking politics to public service seeking politics to support a community anchored venturesome African economy to emerge. The system of innovation can evolve by including the
55:30 - 56:00 community and ecology and developing without uh entrenching space disparity. This is what we need to do and uh why introduce science technology uh sustainable development approach to development. We need interdisciplinary approach to development. Law, sociology, political science must come. Analysis of change, linear versus systemic change, inclusion of specificity, department from the one model fits all approach,
56:00 - 56:30 consideration of history, understanding of cumulative development and past dependence, tailor made policy implications, appropriate cont uh context. relevant policy design and implementation must also be included in this system of innovation u developments uh that that we want to create. Now we need to move from the national system of innovation to the sustainable innovation development
56:30 - 57:00 system. Innovation system in general. The innovation process. A general theory of innovation. Missing links and the role of advanced users. Defining the innovation system. The innovation development system for Africa. Develop. Building knowledge platforms with forward linkages. Building industrial complexes with backward linkages. Engineering as intermediating between science and industry. inclusive needdriven innovation and economic develmentment. We must add into the
57:00 - 57:30 innovation system for generating the African sustainable development approach. I think the new approach is what we need and that inclusion is very important. And now in the remember the national system innovation is defined as a network of institutions in the public and private sectors whose uh activities and interactions initiate import modify and diffuse new technologies. This is uh my um my supervisor Christopher Reman is
57:30 - 58:00 how he defined it. He wrote the book 1907 I think on the innovation system in Japan. I think he quoted me there too. The elements and relationships which inter in the production diffusion uh and use of new and economically useful knowledge and are either located within or uh rooted inside the borders of a nation state. This is Lundal uh Bento Lundal is his name is Swedish but he lives in Denmark. He was a professor. We
58:00 - 58:30 are together. I was we worked together on the also the book putting Africa first with them actually understand you know they used to say to me mama the Africa the imperials build rejected will be the cornerstone of the arch Africa will rise they used to tell me I'm so happy with them also a very good one he just recently passed he's Dick Nelson is his name a set of institutions whose interactions determine the innovative performance of national famous at
58:30 - 59:00 university also was teaching there So national institutions the incentive structures the competences that determine the rate and direction of technological learning or the volume volume and compositional change generating activities in a country is what uh others also wrote about. So the national innovation is constituted by the institutions and economic structures affecting the rate and direction of technological change in the society.
59:00 - 59:30 This is what also Eddie Christina both of them are from Sweden. Okay. Thanks. Continue. So defining seats. Now I want to define a new a new approach. That's what I'm suggesting to you. A system that builds on the national system of innovation by converting economic growth into economic development. The system ne neutralizes the rate of economic growth accelerating without jobs, equality and prosperity at the same time which economic development is associated with
59:30 - 60:00 seeds combines synthesizes growth and development bring from sustainable poverty and inequality decreases to eradication but the inclusion of all actors in solving the social economic environmental problems of all lowincome country economies. That's what we want within seeds. So seeds is an uh yes uh economic system that consists of knowledge stakeholders and all of them and it's um it's it brings all the
60:00 - 60:30 elements that determine the rate and direction of innovation dynamics from a combination of indigenous and knowledge transferred from the global knowledge core. That's what it brings in knowledge, learning, innovation, compens. Thank you. Continue. So seeds to create newness or
60:30 - 61:00 do create a new ways and learn by engaging in doing both creating newness and creating new ways. When this drives an economic system, development takes place. Integrate all relevant actors not leave a problem to the actor that mainly possesses the problem or opportunity. Build the capacity of users to learn and apply knowledge. So this is a more inclusive one. Continue and seeds also can help with
61:00 - 61:30 catchup or beyond catchup linear versus co-evolution. Co-evolution is smart and green transformation path. Integrating indigenous knowledge with all scientific knowledge, informal with formal economy, integrating economic growth with sustainable development, integrating social and human capital with financial, natural and physical capital. All the capitals are also combined. And we have an I have created on the old model. The new model with what I mean is uh with the sustainable development one I
61:30 - 62:00 mentioned to you can be done with inclusion. The other one is low and not this is the natural system innovation approach but this one is good but it's not clear to see very well but you can look at it later. Okay, continue. And the seats building in leaks. Today the most popularized system of innovation is at the national level. The issue for policy have been framed with linear technology or innovation catchup and development for low-inccome economies. The catchup is to reach
62:00 - 62:30 industrial economies of Europe, USA and Japan. They have established systems of national innovation system. the low-income countries have to build yet their national system and was with my suggestion is we should do our own with the sustainable innovation development system. That's what I just recommend to you. That's a major difference. The difference is in the relevant institutions are those that create knowledge and research and development. The difference is also in the actors are
62:30 - 63:00 uh industry university government interactions. So that's a big difference we have. The low-inccome countries are in a weak situation but some of the advanced countries have managed it. Okay, let's continue. Continue. Yes. Knowledge, learning, innovation, capacity building, diffuse from the bottom to build well-being, think 10 pyramids, bottom, middle, top, inclusive, sustainable, poverty-free, integrated, harmonious, Ubuntu value anchored Africa. That's
63:00 - 63:30 what we need. We need a new knowledge learning competence building system variables necessary for redesigning the so the sustainable innovation of low incoming economies. We must make them inclusive. We must make them sustainable, smart, specific, measurable, action orientated. Yes. Um actionoriented and timely. Integrated horizontally in order to manage uh links with the global economy. Combine local
63:30 - 64:00 with national. Combining governance with implementation, knowledge, learning, innovation, competence building. Removing entrepreneurship, drought, removing systematically tenderneurship, donorreneurship, rent seeking, well-being anchored and empowering, strong social and human capital anchorage, competition with collaboration, building a shared African identity, ecologically sound, and removing social well-being and special disparity. That's what we
64:00 - 64:30 need. Indigenous knowledge inclusion. Osiri University must set up an indigenous research innovation excellence center. So, Professor Ku, you must build this one. If you don't uh we will punish you. So concluding remarks, what's needed is a strategy of uh co-evolution where rural communities become modern without becoming urban and industrial and all the services, education, health, energy, sanitation, clean water, transport and housing are
64:30 - 65:00 upgraded by spreading the community system of innovation with inclusive and broad-based innovation with the inclusion of indigenous knowledge. That's what we need to do. Continue. The policy pundit pundits keep peddling competitiveness and other aspirations to reach industrial status. Many people in the rural areas and the urban suffer. There's a need to think differently to try to address the problems of those who live in the rural areas also. Okay.
65:00 - 65:30 Continue. So there is a need to create the integrated and unified system of innovation. Integrate agriculture as manufacturers so they can co-evolve rural services health agriculture education water energy transport. Identify local knowledge that can be turned into innovation. Integrate the triple helyses with the communities. Africa needs to link the bifurcate economy by transforming the informal and rural economy. Social innovation and social entrepreneurship must be the drivers. Thank you. Go for co-evolution
65:30 - 66:00 rather than linear. Create indigenous knowledge system innovation. Go for collaboration with competition. Go for linking informal with formal economy. Get us let us see what differences can emerge from the current dilemma. All right. Let the people own Africa. Sovereign wealth fund should capture the wealth of Africa has embark on this new innovative smart integrated unified pathway. That's what we need to do. Continue. Now I just mentioned to you we have
66:00 - 66:30 produced a book called informal sector innovation insights from the global south it's published by routage in in u in 201 15 that's why I wrote it so and we did it together and we first published the in our journal and then the we have more with Taylor Francis and they published the book I wish you can read that our book let humanity move from the physical world to the digital
66:30 - 67:00 world and enter into the knowledge economy with a smart integrated green innovative world not just Africa the entire world should also move into that direction I think that's what u I appreciate thank you very much right I have now I'm now finished so you have any questions or any comments always you have some very exciting comments please go ahead Yes.
67:00 - 67:30 Did you listen to me? Hello? Yes, we did. We did. Oh, you did. Okay. Yes, we did. Okay. Thank you very much. I'm suggesting new ideas, so I I hope you agree with me.
67:30 - 68:00 be nice to have some ideas you have. Please comment. Our brother, Professor Ku, I suggest Osir University must create a new center of excellence, indigenous knowledge. Yes. You agree with me?
68:00 - 68:30 Yes. Yes, of course. Yes, of course. Any questions or any comments? Now, remember as you as you are listening to this, you be I hope you're beginning to appreciate where this is all leading. You are pursuing a PhD in business innovation, right? Um that PhD by nature is multi-disiplinary. We want you to connect different fields to solve a problem and you can't solve a problem without innovation which is what you are
68:30 - 69:00 learning here and one and one of the ways or we tend to favor or we are biased towards this indigenous innovative approach which is what we are learning today. So um when you write your dissertation down the road, we will be ask we will be asking the question and looking for how you are moving away from fierce competition to collaboration that is you know mixed with competition mixed with competition right. Um so how
69:00 - 69:30 you are going away from this idea that is all about individualistic and profit seeking only and we want to be able to see how your dissertation is people oriented. How are you how are you how are you prioritizing well-being for example? How does your innovation uplift your community's well-being? So these things
69:30 - 70:00 so some of these ideas that you are seeing here uh should surface in your dissertation right. Um but anyway any any questions or contribution so far?
70:00 - 70:30 Yep. And nobody. No comment. Okay. No comment. It seems like no comment. Let me check if there's any any on the what the chat on the chats. Check. I don't see any. What happened today? They
70:30 - 71:00 didn't they didn't agree with me or Okay, we have we have Chima. Cha. Go ahead. Okay. Please do. Well, I appreciate you. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. from Nigeria. From Nigeria, Lagos. Yes. Well, um I think uh we all thinking and uh um reflecting on what you have uh told
71:00 - 71:30 us today and uh I believe that uh we are going to take a deeper dive into this uh idea of uh indigenous knowledge and innovation and see what we can make out of it both on the indiv individual level and on the group scale. But uh one thing I think uh that uh we need
71:30 - 72:00 to consider more is the structures that can help in uh this innovation issue because uh we lack the structures seriously down here. um in a situation where certain ideas and innovations are not uh
72:00 - 72:30 encouraged because most individuals who even have those ideas or innovations lack the uh capacity to develop them and uh the system or governments are not encouraging this. So in that light I will be asking how do we uh how do we surand that challenge of bringing to the four the ideas and
72:30 - 73:00 innovations that are of indigenous origin when the system and the government does not really support them. Thank you. Thank you very much. Is there other should I answer or should Yes. Yes. Prof. Go ahead and answer. Okay. Thank you. That's a very important question you ask. Um we definitely have serious
73:00 - 73:30 challenges in uh from our side. Um for example now just one one important uh point you know the reparation the the African Union last year the not last year this year they they had a meet one of the demands they had was to get all the manuscripts all the knowledge
73:30 - 74:00 that has been taken from Africa to return basically preparation They even insisted that they should pay something and some of the countries in Europe and others they said the it's a good idea that we will do that but it's not done uh properly trust me it's not um the way um the repairing and the way
74:00 - 74:30 the return the way it has been uh done is not systematic for example the when the French sent some of this u um you know uh the reparation side back to Benimin. I what I was told was it was very limited and it was also it was done and the way it was not clearly done and there was a lot of complaints. So I think the our government side in Africa
74:30 - 75:00 we have a serious challenge. There must be also a new innovation for service delivery must be the priority of priorities. Public service must be the priority. Public management must be public administration must be number one. If these guys are not going to do that, why? Yeah. uh why do they continue uh to mismanage and not and not do what you just
75:00 - 75:30 suggested also on the innovation side that we in Africa have every but we don't do the innovation and so since we don't do the innovations others take advantage of us too in the innovation system for example I know in South Africa the and the African the you know net also we they produce uh uh you know uh innovation indicators where I've been involved in that as a as an advisor or something but we produced one books
75:30 - 76:00 already the third book is almost coming uh we're editing it it's still I'm struggling with them because the indicators also we must contextualize them in the African side still we u we take uh uh uh the ACD the you know the Oslo manual we take the kind of u
76:00 - 76:30 foreign indicators innovation indicators is what we copy we copy we must not do that we are not indicating it because we don't go back to the indigenous roots that we have and and value it and also add to it so we have this challenges the other thing is for example the South Africa's annually I think from 19 96 up up until now this is the third or the fourth time they they produce uh
76:30 - 77:00 every five years they produce uh white paper they call it on national system innovation and they have been asking me also to participate which I I we always give them comments and things like that but the problem is it's not done also way that actually makes a model can be has emerged as a model also can be used in other countries. I know there are many uh many African countries all try to do
77:00 - 77:30 something like this but it's not well done. It's not also integrated with what they do with Nepal, what they do with each other. It all varies. Yeah. All right. is uh I remember also in I did um go to campala also the the Uganda and others Kenya we have we have we have some discussions but it's not clearly uh done in a systematic way to integrate the African challenge I just mentioned to you that we have and then the root
77:30 - 78:00 knowledge the indigenous knowledge roots uh on every sphere we need to mention on the science side on the techn technology side, on the medicine side, on the environment side, on the herbal medicine, these other things, the pharmaceutical, all these need needs to be addressed and we need to know it exactly and we need to recognize it and value it, add it and also appreciate it and then include it and and something like that is what we need to do. That's
78:00 - 78:30 not also done properly. So as you rightly asked the question, our problem is on the on the government's side. We still are weak. There's no clarity. Yes, there's no also purpose in terms of serving uh the the you know the interest of Africa. We still have many many challenges. Um we continue to have these challenges even uh you know we have now this u Ibraim tray and
78:30 - 79:00 uh give him credit he's very he he discusses uh with an amplifi panafrican imagination but um we don't get support from I don't we don't he doesn't get support from key countries in the west Africa like Nigeria and uh Ghana But they are not with him yet. So uh we need we why can't they also discuss and find a way to really understand each
79:00 - 79:30 other because some of the things he's saying about Africa is what all the others that have been killed uh buma others have been saying you know all others then we have challenges why don't we have also good leaders that are serviced driven not u self-interest driven I think this challenge we have I don't know how we can resolve it and also is there any chance the education
79:30 - 80:00 system even university like Osiri uh can be a really uh strong center where we you all the students we have who join in this university when you graduate when you do things you you don't just you're not just academics you also uh social service we want indigenous knowledge for society uh in African society African development African eradication of all the challenges we have all the this uh theft that others use uh take advantage
80:00 - 80:30 of and so on divide us and make us into conflict fight each other many strange things that have been going on could it things like that is there any way we can remove it I think that's a very important issue you asked I appreciate you very much and I hope let's not let's not uh continue as we are we must develop the new innovation uh this new innovation I just suggest a sustainable the African sustainable uh innovation uh
80:30 - 81:00 development system is uh I call it seeds I think we should go for that we don't need to go by national we don't need to go step by step one by one 55 types we should integrate it I think because our you know varied and similar but and then if we know how to use it as Africans I think all of us will benefit so let's find a way to do it in every sphere unless also included in the education system and that's the other thing we need to do. I don't know if the we I I don't know I've mentioned to you
81:00 - 81:30 many times the in 2015 uh we we sent a group of my friends from the Caribbean from America from here also myself we send um we uh Africa education commission we want to establish we want in the education system we include indigenous knowledge and then we even want to develop modules like mama Africa one module one mama Africa two three something like that we call it mama pana African mama type thing how do
81:30 - 82:00 we unite Africa type thing we developed it we send it it's I don't know about 15 20 pages we wrote with all the curriculum also designed but African Union did not respond to us I just want to tell you this I'm still uh sad that after we did it uh and many we tried but no response I mean this was 15 2015 to now is how many years now nearly 10 years. Yeah. But no, no response. Just
82:00 - 82:30 for you to know. Anyway, I appreciate you. Thank you. Yes. Any other question? Yeah, just a quick remark. So, the idea of a weak uh weak government creates very tough conditions. And I want to remind you of the saying that goes that um easy times create
82:30 - 83:00 tough people. Tough men and women. Um and tough men and women create uh weak people and and those weak people then turn around and create um tough times. And then those tough times create strong men and women. So the point of that is it appears as if we are in difficult times and tough times looking
83:00 - 83:30 at just looking at the fact that the government is weak but that means you have to be strong. Uh because tough times have to create tough people. Strong people. So you have to be strong mentally. You have to be agile. You have to be uh you have to be willing to work a little bit harder, right? To to overcome. So hopefully um you can be encouraged and motivated and stay
83:30 - 84:00 disciplined to do what's needed. Thank you. Any other questions or or contribution? If they are not asking question, let's discuss about the workshop. and um their their their papers like the reflections and um at the end of this um uh after next week I we expect them to
84:00 - 84:30 produce a draft scientific paper related to this indigenous knowledge uh which we hope to recommend uh all of you to submit to to research, you know, to Scopus index research papers. We want to do that research u journals. We need
84:30 - 85:00 to do something like that. So if you have any questions on this um and um and how you want do it and and we need to also get it. We will uh review it ourselves ourselves and then send it when we recommend we send it to to um peer reviewers and once the peer reviewers are done uh your papers will be published and the areas are
85:00 - 85:30 thematically well related uh you can send it to you can also think of a special issue in a journal and if we do something like that we will also How great also from you from all the students from O University can also uh produce a book after one or two years which means if you produce something like that it's also good for the university it's also good for you uh because you're
85:30 - 86:00 not only just doing ais and uh also discussions but also real uh innovative output which is uh publication patients research paperations come out. So any question any ideas you have on this uh please um uh comment on it. It would be very nice to hear you. Yeah. Yes. So this is week three. When your
86:00 - 86:30 your your paper is due uh this week three I see some of you actually submitted uh your papers in week one. That is impossible. I when I saw those I know there's no way you would have written uh a full paper in week one. So I want to use this as opportunity to sort of caution uh any of you who may be using um an AI to to write a paper. This is not what this is not what we are trying to train you here for. Uh we will we
86:30 - 87:00 will fish you out and we you know we will not tolerate that. And I have to I have to be I have to be very strong in my statement about that. Um you know there's a reason why we want you to we we gave you some time to to to write and so week one was just a reminder telling you go to week three and look at what is due in week three so you can start working on week three. It wasn't for you to write it and submit in week one. It
87:00 - 87:30 was clear there to go to week three and look at what's happening there. right in week three so you can start working on it and this is now week three when you're supposed to submit. So um for those of you again who's already submitted stuff um you know I I just I I really we have to have a discussion about that a serious discussion about one did you not understand the assignment and two how is it possible that you wrote something already in one in in week one and submitted that. Um to
87:30 - 88:00 Professor Much's point, uh we really want to be able to showcase your work to the world and we want you to be proud of what you're doing and Absolutely. Yeah. And if possible, uh like he said, even do a book, we can even edit the book. And we've been actually putting this together in a way that it can it can lead to that. So one of the assignments for week one was for you to look at your own community. what is in your own uh
88:00 - 88:30 village, your own town and excavate the knowledge from your own people. So imagine if we have knowledge from all the different peoples in Africa, we combine that into a book that is edited uh by a professor, professor Mucci or somebody else, right? That would be really nice and you could have that honor to have been part of a a book or you could just, you know, submit that paper for publication. Um, and I will make this last comment and say h by saying this program really allows you to
88:30 - 89:00 get a leg up in the educational landscape in the market space because um, nobody else is doing what what you're doing now. Nobody else is doing out there. Uh, you are doing something very unique. I want you to to know that. Uh, so so take it by the bullhorn and run with it. Yeah. Thank you so much. Yes, I think it's very important that
89:00 - 89:30 you I saw uh I read your uh assignment one reflections. So uh it was very nice. Uh I really appreciate the way you all included you know the different uh communities in in Africa from Nigeria from Ethiopia from every part of what contributions have been made and very nice that you also I like you to also include the references uh
89:30 - 90:00 very much uh that would be very nice the sources we need to acknowledge and recognize. So if you do something is very good. Now the next this next assignment you you're expected to submit by now is uh the bibliography and on this indigenous knowledge area that some of the things have found that must also be included very nicely and just goes through it. The more research you do the better and the more sources you identify
90:00 - 90:30 you know is good. And the sources don't have to be written in English. They could be in in different languages in Africa which is fine because in the here I don't know if you know it the language that is called giz the ancient language all the rich on astronomy on mathematics on medicine everything that I just mention you about today all all this science everything was done in the
90:30 - 91:00 ancient language called giz was this was a language actually and the alphabet was created when Ethiopia was called Africa. It was not Africa at that time. It was called Canat Ethiopia. Yeah. We had different names. Yeah. Antiop and all can mention please look at it from Seneagal and others. The different names Africa used to have and and Ethiopia was included as that time. So this language is not just Ethiopian, it's African
91:00 - 91:30 language and in fact we should use it to be honest with you. uh the alphabet expresses any sound and the professor from Sweden Steven Rubenson is his name who opened the history department in the first time in Adisawa University he said it's better than the Roman and the Roman and Latin alphabet he said because he says if you say C in the in the Roman alphabet C E A C T
91:30 - 92:00 S E E B E I mean it goes on uh so many of the the letters have expressed other things but in this language you say he expressed so much any voice and it expresses it he said and it's incredible what he said he was in he did it in the calendar also the was also original and it's also a calendar that I
92:00 - 92:30 think is an African calendar too because that also done when Ethiopia was called Africa at that time. There was no division of these colonial divisions we didn't have that we have now in Africa didn't happen at that time. Yeah. Last week I mentioned to you the all the colonial history is horrible what happened to us. How we were treated as Africans were treated. This is unfair and unethical and uh which unjust uh illegal but still that that legacy the
92:30 - 93:00 negative legacy hasn't left us yet. So we need that's why you the younger generation I I always advise you to be the change makers and game changers. It's true that you know you do the research on these areas the areas that others ignore by doing this kind of research and I really appreciate Ori University and our brother professor K also doing this that by doing this and we develop this further we can actually after a while with all of you getting engaged with all the books you write we
93:00 - 93:30 can also you know uh spread it to the elementary school, high schools and so on and then all the children in Africa will learn and they will grow up with dignity and pride and u confidence. That's what we want to do. I think let's let's try to do it. That's my suggestion to you. My humble suggestion. Thank you very much. Kima go again. Yeah. Um please uh talking about the
93:30 - 94:00 weekly papers, I I am a bit uh concerned about the the the structuring of the instructions since we are talking about uh research paper that could be published. uh the the the instructions uh kind of is uh structuring from my understanding and point of view like an essay more than really a research paper because uh the first instruction is uh you identify
94:00 - 94:30 the your community or the community or a wider community or a country then you kind of um tell the story of the explain and tell the story of the community. Then identify the problem. Then coming back to the second instruction two where we had to write uh two pages it was again repeated that you uh describe the
94:30 - 95:00 community uh explain what the people do what the challenges and that so it like I say sequentially is looking like uh those instruction is structuring it like an instead of a research paper. I don't know if I'm really correct or I didn't understand it. Yes. But but that's that was just the first part. Um even even as you write
95:00 - 95:30 about your community uh that knowledge can be added whatever you write in that essay you can include in a paper because it's it's if you you should also find ways to site it right. If whatever you include, if you can also find research, articles, books, uh or even interviews, uh maybe you've talked to an elder. Those are ways in which you can actually
95:30 - 96:00 support the claims you've made in in those reflections. It was just to get you started. It's not it's not the final paper because even even the final paper has to be done in a way that the journal would accept right. So so that was just the initial uh things that you were writing but then when you come to the week three week three comes it becomes a little bit more in-depth. Week three is a little bit more in depth and also in week two we ask you to now go and do a
96:00 - 96:30 biblioraphy up to about 50 articles. So yes, I agree with you. It starts with like with an essay because a gentle introduction is not meant to over overwhelm you. Uh and also starting you out with an area that you're comfortable with in your own community. In week two, you're supposed to make a list of articles. That's the biblioraphy. And may I ask you, did you have you done that? Have you started looking at Yes, I've I've subed my biblography. I I
96:30 - 97:00 noted the Gra. So you did that yesterday. And you think that process is not going to lead you to writing a rigorous paper? No, actually that's my concern is that the way the week three instructions are structured with the biblography, I already have the uh research paper stretch out. But if I have to follow the
97:00 - 97:30 structure of the instruction, it will kind of truncate some steps in a structured uh scientific paper. That's my my concern. That's fine. That is okay. The the most important thing at this point is to get is to get uh your ideas out, right? So, so you may not include all the uh articles that you have in your in your
97:30 - 98:00 bibliography. That is okay. So far as you have that list and then when you now you can you can now do what you intend to do. You can now write a proper paper in week four. You see in week four is when you can now say okay I have all this knowledge. I have my biblography. I have all I have my reflection. I have stuff in week three. So now how can I use all this and now write a a final paper. A final paper. Yeah. Yeah. So that's good. You are you are in
98:00 - 98:30 the right step. I mean so the right direction. Yes. Yes. You're in the right that direction. Absolutely. And also this is I'm glad you you brought that up. Don't be afraid this at this stage because we haven't given you any guidelines for week four yet. Week four is the final paper and also that is where you're going to start making presentations. If you if you have um if you if you've identified a journal for example that you would like to follow
98:30 - 99:00 their own format by all means go ahead and start doing that uh for week four. Again we haven't we haven't given you that yet. But in week four, that is where you actually submit a final paper at that point. Yes, it's much better than uh asking you questions and examination and answer. I we prefer you produce something practical which is a
99:00 - 99:30 scientific which is very good. I think that's much better. It's it's a new way of uh even we are saying even students must also create um venture startups many things like that they need to do uh team up do team up and do things like that where we we encourage them to be more active I know we do give them exams but we also assess them but we give them better marks when they do something creative something like that is much
99:30 - 100:00 better so it's a new approach in the way to motivate you. Thank you, K. We have a a comment here by Adola uh in the chat room. He says, "As Africans, we must turn inward and harness the rich reservoir of indigenous knowledge and ex that exist within our diverse communities. Our collective advancement lies not in the wholesome adoption of
100:00 - 100:30 foreign paradigms but in the strategic revitalization and integration of our own traditional wisdom, systems and values. This transformation begins with us as participants in this academic community. We must unite with a shared resolve and unwavering determination to be catalyst for change. All right. Thank you. Excellent. We I appreciate you. Thank you. Very good comment. Could I agree with you that was
100:30 - 101:00 wonderful? That's very nice. I'm Omar Wale. I'm also a child from Nigeria. You should child of Ethiopia [Laughter] also. We should be all one. We should not be two. If we are one, our rich resources in Africa will make us all okay. No one will be starving. No at all. No begging.
101:00 - 101:30 We have everything. They take it. Plead the book. The betrayal of Africa. Africa betrayed. You know, he's a white guy who wrote it. I just mentioned the the name for you. Please just look what is happening to us. I mean what you mentioned also the question you asked about the weak leaders leadership governance government thing is reflected in that Africa betrayed book you should look at it because huge
101:30 - 102:00 resources go out of Africa less come we are ed dependent but when we are giving more to those who take from us and give us something little and and make us believe as if we are ed seekers when We shouldn't be in that situation at all. It's a very complicated situation we're in. Not nice what we we're in. And this must be changed completely.
102:00 - 102:30 Yes. Yeah. Any other questions you have or should we finish? It's up to you, Professor Ku. Any anyone? I think that's it. Is nearly finished now. Yeah, that's it. Okay. Thank you so much. I appreciate you all. We thank you very very much. You are very good. And u
102:30 - 103:00 let's keep in touch. No, there's a question about uh the week three assignment uh seven pages. No, you don't have to. You can if you write more than seven pages, you will not be penalized. No. Uh let's just say that seven page is minimum. Okay. Yes. Don't don't worry. Yes. We'll we'll mark it also. I'll mark it tomorrow. What you send me today. Okay. All right. Thank you. I'll
103:00 - 103:30 give you feedback. Thank you. But what you have done on the reflections was very good. Nearly all of you have good work and I really the focus you did on the communities uh the Ebo the Ruba many things in Nigeria and other places in Ethiopia you also mentioned many was very very good was very very and I think I like you all to mention in from different parts of the world that you are in okay and come up with this is very useful because this
103:30 - 104:00 this enriches the indigenous knowledge that we are we have ignored it must be included it. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you and welcome you. Have a seat weekend. Today is Saturday, isn't it? Tomorrow is Sunday. Yes, it is. Yes. You should enjoy your weekend. Um, I'm sorry for