1. 1 1 Investing in Academy Advice for Sustainable Health and Development of Africa Annual Meeting of the African Academy Development Initiative (ASADI), The Royal Society, Kohn Centre, London, UK. 4-5 November, 2008 By Dr.Ham-Mukasa Mulira, Minister of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Republic of Uganda & Council Member, Uganda Academy of Sciences (UNAS)

2. 2 2 Key Areas of Attention Action on each area is vital to the success of the Knowledge Economy’s contribution to Economic Development.

3. 3 3 Science……. Science  “…is the effort to discover and increase human understanding of how the physical world works.  ….Through controlled methods … use of observable physical evidence of natural phenomena to collect data, and analyze this to explain what and how things work.  NB: Ability for humans to harness nature and natural phenomena for human utility and activity….

4. 4 4 AFRICA  Africa is the world's second- largest and second most- populous continent after Asia.  Approx. 30.2 million km² (11.7 million sq mi) including adjacent islands  Covers 6% of the Earth’s' total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area.  Pop: 922 million people (as of 2005)  Accounts for about 14.2% of the world's human population  Over 50 countries  Numerous climate areas - vegetation from all green to all desert  A number of time zones  etc

5. 5 5 5 Development Linkages… Government Private Sector Society/Public Industry ACADEMIES INPUTS PROCESSES OUTPUTS/BENEFITS National Growth / Development JOBS REVENUE INVESTMENT Academic Institutions Sustainability (Loop)

6. 6 6 6 STATUS OF INTERNATIONAL SUBMARINE CABLES AS OF END OF 2004 The high cost of international connectivity in Africa is a result of limited African investment in submarine cables

7. 7 7 7 77 WHERE WE STARTED…

8. 8 8 Phasing of the NBI: Phase 1 (168 。 51km) yellow line Phase 2 (1542.33km) Green line Phase 3 (407.8km) Blue line NB: Phase 1 includes E-Gov Infrastructure which includes: Voice (VoIP) Video (conferencing) Office Automation & email “NGI/EGI established to complement not compete with the private sector” Ultimately to link to the submarine cable(s) through Kenya. NGI/EGI Rollout Map

9. 9 9 Work Home School DistrictBusiness Information Center (DBIC) Information Center (DBIC) Mobile Kiosk Licensing & Passports Justice & Police Tax & Revenue Finance Social Service Education InternalAffairs Human Services Health Health Lands Lands Licensing & Passports & Passports Justice & Police Tax & Revenue Finance Social Service Education Education InternalAffairs Human Services Health Health Lands Lands Connecting Government For Service Delivery

10. 10 Conclusion THANK YOU To ensure that academies play their role in making the African continent fully participate in the 21 st Century new era of the Information/Knowledge Economy, there should be, not only a desire, but a reality of recognising the role of science and technology and harnessing its benefits in changing the lives of people to remove poverty, disease and ignorance.