Africa-EU Summit Science Dialogue Events

The AERAP Africa-Europe Science Collaboration Platform will organise side events at the AU-EU Summit on 14-17 February. The purpose of the meeting will be to promote awareness of the contribution of collaborative research and development as a critical aspect of EU-Africa relations and collaborations, in addressing global challenges together.

In this context, ARUA and The Guild were invited to co-convene a panel discussion on Africa-EU universities and research collaboration. This will be the opportunity to promote the voice of universities as central actors of Europe-Africa’s collaborations in research, publicise our joint policy positions (in particular our recently published Statement), and give visibility to our partnership towards the European and African research community and policymakers. This panel discussion, which will take place just before the EU-AU summit, will also be a good moment to take stock of the progress made over the last years (Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, ARISE Pilot Programme) and reflect on the developments needed to further strengthen African universities in the long-term.

In 2017, the AU-EU summit paved the way for the recognition of science collaborations and the need for strengthening the research and innovation capacity of African universities as key priorities in the African-European partnership. Since then, huge progress has been achieved with regard to these two objectives, with particular momentum developing since late 2019.

At the policy level, key moments were the very first AU-EU research and innovation ministers’ meeting that took place in July 2020, and the launch of the Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs in September 2018. At the programme level, new initiatives have been developed such as the African Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence (ARISE) Pilot Programme, while existing programmes have been endowed with significant additional investments for collaborations with African universities (Erasmus+, Neighbourhood, Development, and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI), Horizon Europe).

Ahead of the EU-AU summit organised in February 2022, it is time now to take stock of the progress made over the last years and reflect on the developments needed to further strengthen African universities and African-European university collaborations in the long-term: how can these different initiatives be integrated in such a way that they jointly strengthen the capacity of African science in a sustainable way, enabling African universities to enhance their capacity for producing new scientific and socio-economic knowledge, delivering high-quality education, and contributing to innovation?