As the final step before the closing event scheduled for 28 July 2023, a feedback workshop enabled the experts to share the country background report and the policy recommendation report to help Guinea draw up its first national research and innovation policy.

Organised on 12 July 2023 in hybrid mode (in Conakry and online) during the national research and innovation week (SENARI), this workshop brought together around 300 participants, many key R&I players from Guinea, but also from the sub-region (Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Togo, Niger, Burkina Faso, Senegal). The aim of the workshop was to present the two reports and enrich them with contributions from all sides so that everyone could better understand the issues they address and the solutions recommended for drawing up the first national research and innovation policy (PNRI). This first edition of the SENARI and the desire to develop the PNRI demonstrate the importance that Guinea attaches to R&I as accelerators of sustainable development.

Mr. Abdoulaye Baniré Diallo, Chairman of the panel of experts, emphasised the high level of political commitment to this service and gave some key figures. His team met with more than 500 stakeholders, including 1/3 women, 13 departments and agencies of the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation (MESRSI), representatives of some 15 public and private universities, nearly 40 research centres and laboratories, and a dozen start-ups. 9 sectoral ministries and 37 public departments also contributed to enriching the documents presented.

Mr. Abdoulaye Baniré Diallo

Ms. Aya Kasasa, representing Dr. Norbert Richard Ibrahim , Assistant Secretary General of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OEACP), thanked the Ministry of Research, Science and Innovation (MESRSI), headed by Minister Dre Diaka Sidibe, “for having orchestrated all this collaborative work so brilliantly”. She also referred to the numerous R&I players in Guinea, “an abundance of vital forces that is a real asset for the country”, urging everyone to “play their part in this joint undertaking”.

Ms. Aya Kasasa, from Brussels

The representative of the EU Delegation in Guinea, Mr. Ridwane Abdel Rahmane (Head of the Economy Section), pointed out that “reforms are needed to strengthen the R&I ecosystem, ensure better dissemination and exploitation of scientific results, promote innovation within national institutions and establish links with the private sector”.

Mr. Ridwane Abdel Rahmane

Mr. Facinet Conté, Secretary General for R&I at MESRSI, pointed to the dilapidated state of his country’s research and innovation system, ranked last out of 132 countries in the Global Innovation Index 2022 (and last out of 27 countries in sub-Saharan Africa), and called on all those involved “in view of the importance of research and innovation in our daily lives, and on behalf of the Minister, to show willingness, commitment and, above all, professionalism in your thinking, so that at the end of the day, we will be able we will be able to equip our country with instruments for R&I strategy and guidance”.

Mr. Facinet Conté

The country background report and the policy recommendation report will help the country to better structure and coordinate the ecosystem and its many players while putting in place effective mechanisms to steer R&I policy and build bridges between research, higher education and the sectors that can benefit from the results of R&D (industry, health, socio-cultural sector, etc.). The afternoon was dedicated to roundtables with the national team to get feedback and enhance the two documents that will be finalised and presented at the service’s closing event, before being published.

Officially launched in December 2022, this service is the eighth one of the Policy Support Facility initiated 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 on our website dedicated to the MSP service in Guinea.