Preparing Nigeria for a Knowledge Driven Economy through Science and Engineering

1
Preparing Nigeria for a Knowledge Driven Economy
through Science and Engineering

• Professor Pius J. Egbelu
• Department of Industrial
• Louisiana State University
• Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• USA

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Sustaining Economic Growth

• Why is it that some countries are able to sustain
  economic growth while others are stuck in
  poverty?
• - Vision
• - Commitment
• - Understanding todays economic
• drivers

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Stages of Economic Development
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Income Per Capita
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Nigeria is at the Factor Driven Economy Level

• Dependent on agriculture and export of raw
  materials
• No export of manufactured products
• Infrastructure is inadequate
• Business climate seen as unfriendly
• Low investment in science and engineering
• Certainly lacking in new knowledge discovery

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Knowledge-Driven Economy

• 21st Century economy is a knowledge driven
  economy.
• To enter the knowledge driven economy,
  institutions have to be in the business of
  creating new knowledge.
• New knowledge is a precursor to innovation and
  new product, process, and service development.

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Knowledge-Driven Economy

• To compete at the knowledge level citizens must
  be equipped with relevant knowledge
• - Science, Mathematics, Engineering
• and Technology (SMET)
• Country needs SMET Educated workforce.
• A strong SMET education is necessary for
  producing quality engineers and scientists needed
  to engage in scientific research.

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Global distribution trends of Nominal GDP and GDP
(PPP) Source "List of countries by GDP (PPP)."
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 29 Nov 2006.
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 1 Dec 2006
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Human Capital Development Index
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Table 1 Science Engineering doctoral degrees,
by selected Asian country/economy and field
Selected years,
19852004 Source US National Science Foundation,
Appendix table 2-43
Country Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year
Country 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
China 234 622 1904 2556 2114 4364 6793 10160 11383 12465 14638 18806 23446
India 7438 7603 8284 8383 9070 9070 10408 10951 11296 11544 11974 13733 N/A
Japan 7978 9157 10036 10758 11576 12645 13921 15470 15357 16078 16183 16314 16909
S. Korea 1400 1906 2458 2984 3583 4462 4999 5586 6143 6208 6690 7172 7946
Taiwan 115 225 314 410 701 848 1187 1337 1400 1463 1501 1759 1964
N/A Not available SE Indicator
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Table 2 Patent data for selected countries for
years 2000 through 2002 (Source UN Statistical
Yearbook, 49th Edition, 2005) Data unavailable
Year Patent Applications Patent Applications Patent Applications Patents Granted Patents Granted Patents Granted Patents in Force Patents in Force Patents in Force
Year 2000 2001 2002 2000 2001 2002 2000 2001 2002
Country
China 122,306 149294 181256 13356 16296 21473 34848 49572 65049
Singapore 70191 79026 94259 5090 -- 7583 -- -- 36927
Thailand 5665 -- -- 541 -- -- 352 -- --
S. Korea 172184 190022 203696 34956 34675 45298 215882 244483 --
India 60942 78522 91924 -- -- -- -- -- --
Indonesia 60363 77407 90922 -- -- -- -- -- --
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Table 3 Human Resources Employed in Research
Development (Source UN statistical Yearbook,
49th Edition, 2005), UNESCO Institute for
Statistics--- Data unavailable
Country Year Total RD Personnel
China 2002 1035197
Malaysia 2002 10731
Brazil 2000 117541
Singapore 2002 21871
Netherlands 2001 89664
Mexico 2002 46092
Thailand 2001 32001
Indonesia 2001 51544
South Africa 2002 15720
South Korea 2003 186214
India 1998 330492
Nigeria --- ---
Philippines --- ---
Pakistan 2002 12820
Kenya --- ---
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Table 4 Expenditures on Research and Development
(RD) for Selected Countries (Source UN
Statistical Yearbook, 49th Edition, 2005)
Based on Foreign Exchange Rate at oanda.com on
October 15, 2006 --- Data unavailable
Country Year Local Currency Expenditure on RD in Local Currency Expenditure on RD in US Dollars
China 2002 Yuan 128,760,000,000 16,316,289,679
Malaysia 2002 Ringgit 2,500,600,000 679,823,071
Brazil 2000 Real 11,455,200,000 5,358,155,199
Singapore 2002 Singapore Dollar 3,404.700,000 2,145,652,544
Netherlands 2001 Euro 8,089,900,000 10,126,532,325
Mexico 2002 Peso 26,253,000,000 2,423,658,854
Thailand 2001 Baht 13,264,000,000 355,889,455
Indonesia 2001 -- --- ---
South Africa 2002 Rand 7,488,076,000 1,006,478,061
South Korea 2003 Korean Won 19,068,682,000,000 20,121,274,141
India 1998 Indian Rupee 176,602,100,000 3,903,240,137
Nigeria --- --- --- ---
Philippines --- --- --- ---
Pakistan 2002 Pakistani Rupee 9,785,470,000 161,599,869
Kenya --- --- --- ---
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National Research Agencies

• Over the past 60 years, many countries have
  established national research agencies.
• USA, Japan, Britain, Germany, China, The
  Netherlands, Norway,
• South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Canada,
  Brazil, South Africa,
• and many others

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Nigeria needs to establish a Research Agency

• National Science Engineering Research
  Foundation (NSERF).

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Mission

• promote the progress of science and technology
  for advancing human capacity and organizational
  excellence
• develop the scientific and technological capacity
  of Nigeria
• advance the nations capacity in research and
  development
• usher Nigeria into the knowledge economy of the
  21st century.

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NSERF Vision

• Create a culture for advancing science and
  technology through innovation and discovery aimed
  at enhancing the quality of life of Nigerians .

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NSERF Objectives

• Help Nigeria take leadership position in science,
  mathematics, engineering and technology.
• Foster government and private sector partnerships
  help to sustain ST development .
• Promote economic growth through innovation and
  knowledge discovery.
• Enhance ST workforce by strengthening SMET
  education at all tiers.

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NSERF

• NSERF will not perform any research itself.
• It engages in research through third party,
  principally, universities, research labs,
  secondary and primary schools.
• Research awards made to institutions through
  competitive proposal process.
• Researchers compete on ideas.

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NSERF Core Responsibilities

• People develop SE workforce by engaging faculty
  and students in transformative research.
• Ideas and Innovation - foster new ideas and
  promote new knowledge discoveries and
  innovations.
• SE Infrastructure-invest in enabling science and
  engineering research infrastructure and equipment
  

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NSERF Focus

• Support high quality and transformative research.
  
• Transformative research characteristics
• - brings new understanding to a
• problem.
• - Causes a shift in paradigm in how the
  problem is looked.

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Strengthening SMET Education

• Research foundations do not stand alone. They
  must be anchored in strong SMET education.
• A world-class research foundation requires
  world-class scientists and engineers.
• Restructure SMET curricula to reflect national
  priorities.
• Build up SMET infrastructure.

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NSERF idea not new to Nigeria

• On May 23, 2006, President Olusegun Obasanjo
  announced the exploration of establishing a
  research agency.
• I was invited through the Ministry of Science
  Technology to develop a blueprint for such
  agency.
• Report was submitted in early 2007.
• Have heard of nothing again since then.