Introduction

The role of decolonised science, technology, and innovation

In an era where there is a crucial need to identify long-term solutions to sustainable development and global change challenges across the world, there is a strategic lead that science, technology, and innovation (STI)-focused organisations in Africa (including governments, universities, and research and development [R&D] departments of industries) can take to develop homegrown policies and initiatives to allow Africans themselves to provide solutions to their own particular needs and challenges.

The African continent is bedevilled by multiple challenges that cut across different economic sectors. In the energy sector, 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are without electricity access – this is about 60.7 per cent of the population, and 50 per cent of businesses view a lack of reliable electricity access as a major constraint to doing business (IEA, 2019). There are also problems of access to clean and safe water: 30 per cent of Nigerians (57 million people), 10.7 per cent of Ghanaians (3 million people), and 36 per cent of Kenyans (17 million people) have no access to clean water. In the same vein, 68 per cent of Nigerians (130 million people), 78 per cent of Ghanaians (22 million people), and 67 per cent of Kenyans (32 million people) do not have access to improved sanitation (UNICEF, 2021; World Bank, 2021). Challenges also abound in Africa and across other regions of the Global South when it comes to issues of sustainable development, such as food security, gender equality, and education management. However, these challenges also provide opportunities for critical interventions through decolonised research and innovation undertaken by science and technology organisations (AUC, 2014; AUC, 2015b; African Union, 2019; African Union, 2020).

However, though many African universities that undertake research and teaching and research-only agencies and organisations spend a lot of time and resources doing research, there is an insufficient drive to provide solutions to these challenges. This seems to be the case in formal research settings where there is an overwhelming push for publication of international research papers as a basis for promotion and career enhancement. In the non-traditional research settings devoid of popular institutional structures, there is constant research to offer solutions to societal problems, but this has only had a limited impact.