Africa needs to develop buoyant local industries and productive private sectors in order to survive in the current era of globalization, Professor Burton Mwamila, Chairperson, Pan African Competitive Forum (PACF) of Tanzania has said.
Presenting a paper on the Overview of Cluster Development in Africa since 2004 at the opening of the Second Pan-African Competitiveness Forum (PACF) hosted by Ghana at Elimina in the Central Region, Prof Mwamila said innovation enhances comfort, peace, security and prosperity, whiles lack of innovation enhances vulnerability.
The conference, which seeks to provide focus on innovation and cluster based competitiveness approaches is on the theme, "Cluster Initiatives for Africa Economic Development and Sustainability".
The three-day conference, tailored for national and regional economic development across Africa, started on Monday February 15, and ends on February 18.
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) is sponsoring the forum, with support from the African Union and The Competitiveness Institute.
About 150 participants from 25 African countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Namibia and Botswana are attending.
Innovation, Prof Mwamila said, was the process by which firms master and turn into practice product in the universe; or when an invention (creation of something new) is successfully introduced to the market place,
or any other useful application.
Innovation and cluster based development, promises to be one of the most viable approaches in Africa, he said.
The vision of PACF, Prof Mwamila said, was to be a leader in promoting competitiveness for socio-economic development in Africa through innovation and cluster based initiatives, and also stimulate, catalyze, and promote the
development of innovation and cluster based competitiveness for poverty reduction, wealth creation and sustainable development of Africa.
Socio-economic development, he said, was not based on natural resources but rather on knowledge, which was the main driving force of world economies, adding that "It is difficult to get good paying jobs in Africa because everything used in Africa is produced from abroad although Africa was well endowed".
Failure to locally add value to Africa's natural resources products has led to export of raw materials at peanut costs, importation of value-added products of the same at exorbitant prices, denial of the wealth generation, which would otherwise accrue enormous post-harvest losses and others.
He said it was for that reason that innovations, competitiveness and growth of the local Industry needs to be stimulated, catalyzed and promoted for Africa to develop and prosper.
Clusters, Prof Mwamila, admitted provided an excellent nexus for innovation to thrive through interactive learning among actors with organized effort (intervention) to increase the growth and competitiveness of a cluster within a region, involving cluster firms, government (local/regional) and/or the research community (academia).
The intervention is intended to instil dynamism in a cluster and make it more innovative, Prof Mwamila added.