Product Description: This book addresses the vital role of new technology in African economic development, focusing on the specific sector of biotechnology. The authors argue that progress is thwarted by lack of policy in this field, and they explore the urgent need for African governments to pay much more attention to developing technology-supporting institutions and training...read more

Product Description: Land tenure is a sensitive issue in Africa and a central theme in the demand for political and economic reform in the region. While traditional development strategies aim for maximum economic growth, new approaches emphasize conservation...read more

Product Description: The Millennium Development Goals, adopted at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, are the world's targets for dramatically reducing extreme poverty in its many dimensions by 2015�income poverty, hunger, disease, exclusion, lack of infrastructure and shelter�while promoting gender equality, education, health and environmental sustainability...read more

The aim of this book is to develop a more realistic conceptual framework for the analysis of technological and economic change than is provided by conventional economies. Case studies are used to illustrate the argument that a framework for analysis of socio-economic growth and development should be evolutionary in character. Central to this are propositions: that technological change, broadly defined, is a key characteristic of socio-economic transformation; and that economic systems are ultimately propelled through time by the innovations originating within the science/technology system itself. Market influences, though important, act largely as selection mechanisms. A basic argument of the book is that an evolutionary approach to long run socio-economic change provides better insights into relevant aspects of the policy process, particularly those concerning the disposition of resources to science and technology. For this reason, special emphasis is given to science and technology policy.

African agriculture is currently at a crossroads, at which persistent food shortages are compounded by threats from climate change. But, as this book argues, Africa faces three major opportunities that can transform its agriculture into a force for economic growth: advances in science and technology; the creation of regional markets; and the emergence of a new crop of entrepreneurial leaders dedicated to the continent's economic improvement. Filled with case studies from within Africa and success stories from developing nations around the world, The New Harvest outlines the policies and institutional changes necessary to promote agricultural innovation across the African continent. Incorporating research from academia, government, civil society, and private industry, the book suggests multiple ways that individual African countries can work together at the regional level to develop local knowledge and resources, harness technological innovation, encourage entrepreneurship, increase agricultural output, create markets, and improve infrastructure.

Product Description: The world is on the verge of receiving new life forms that will profoundly and irrevocably change the global economy: the "gene hunters" who first cloned the gene in 1973 are now not only modifying existing species but also creating new plants and animals...read more