Guinea will benefit from the Policy Support Facility (PSF), set up by the Secretariat of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), to assist the country in developing a first national research and innovation (R&I) policy, in order to make the knowledge economy a vector for sustainable and inclusive development.
The official launch of the Policy Support Facility (PSF) service in Guinea was held in hybrid mode on 16 December at the Riviera Royal Hotel in Conakry, in the presence of around 50 key R&I from Guinea, notably the Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation (MESRI), Hon. Dre Diaka Sidibe, the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Hon. Louopou Lamah, university rectors, directors of research centres, as well as representatives of the OACPS Secretariat and the United Nations System in Guinea.
The chair of the Expert Panel in charge of this service, Professor Abdoulaye Baniré Diallo, recalled the stakes of this PSF service required by the MESRSI to carry out both an assessment of scientific research and innovation landscape (actors and structures) in Guinea and to elaborate the first national research and innovation policy.
(Professor Abdoulaye Baniré Diallo- first from the right)
Aligned with the United Nations’ Agenda 2030, the African Union’s Agenda 2063 ‘The Africa We Want’ and the Vision ‘Guinea as an Emerging Country by 2040’ which is at the heart of the National Economic and Social Development Plan, the future national R&I policy will contribute to a better structuring and coordination of all R&I actors (nearly 400 public and private structures, according to a recent data collection that will be taken into account by the experts in the elaboration of their policy documents). It will also contribute to building bridges between research, higher education and sectors that can benefit from research results (health, agriculture, trade and industry, environment, etc.), in order to better promote research and stimulate innovation.
Dr. Ibrahim Norbert Richard, Assistant Secretary General of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), recalled how “in a world characterised by increasingly rapid scientific and technological change and emerging crises, the ability to generate, absorb, apply and value new knowledge has become a key factor in the international competitiveness and resilience of economies and enterprises.”
(Dr. Ibrahim Norbert Richard)
Closing the official launch ceremony of the PSF service in Guinea, the Minister of MESRSI, Hon. Dre Diaka Sidibe, underlined the high expectations around this PSF service: “Mapping R&I actors, evaluating R&I governance and harmonising R&I with national priorities in the socio-economic, social and cultural sectors, through a clear vision of the means and actions to achieve this“. She also mentioned the importance of an inclusive and participatory approach, reflecting the transversality of R&I. This transversality will be translated into the representation of other sectoral departments in the national team in charge of accompanying the panel of national and international experts in its mission.
(Hon. Dre Diaka Sidibe- in the center of the photo)
Officially launched today, this service is the eighth one of the Policy Support Facility (PSF) (after Lesotho, Mauritania, The Gambia, Timor-Leste, Kenya, Cameroon), initiated in January 2021, by the EU-funded OACPS Research and Innovation Programme, to enhance the quality and efficiency of R&I policy systems.
For more information on this PSF service, please download:
Factsheet of the PSF service in Guinea (in French only)
Presentation of the members of the Expert Panel (in French only)
Please also visit the page of our website dedicated to the PSF service in Guinea
