is...busy operating two companies.
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hey fox, i am always lurking, watching my xkem,,
he he, i know you are too. like i have said before, kinda like fishing, this xechem stock takes patience.
the bod of the past did not represent us well, and i am still on the fence with this bod. tight lips are needed until this is straightened out legally, so it is absolutely no surprise to me that we have heard little news.
but wait until it is clear for the company to file the real past financials, not so good, and then a whole slew of updates, progress, and surley some kind of forward looking statements. we know a lot about the bad stuff, we have read about it in the filings. what we haven't heard any thing about is all the good news, at least not in the news publications.
expecting good news coming for a change, what do you think, LT?
DDareDDevil
lol, longterm, we have been in xechem for a while now, but you longer than I.
experience tells me our worst days are drawing nigh.
waiting patiently,
DDareDDevil
equity, so far they are, lol. i still believe x is going to pull out of this bs,
things should finally start to pop this year!
DDareDDevil
clrnmg, i am prophetilizing, predicting, an imminent upswing in our x stock this year,,,
in other words, i had a couple of minutes to mis-spell your name and and and give you a hard time, lmao!
wassup man? i read the board every day and i must say, you don't post as much as you used to.
see ya around, keep the board laughing!
DDareDDEvil
FIAT, good to hear from you, unfortunately i no longer am a paying subscriber, so no pm.
i have emailed you.
predictions:
1. settlement out of court coming
2. pandey gets a small compensatory package
3. no criminal charges filed, period
4. burg out by settlement time or shortly thereafter
5. significant bounce by july to around 4 cents
financial statements revised along with a forward looking statement to come. all in my opinion.
DDareDDevil
fiat, that's me, Mr. sensitive, lmao
kinda like calling Don Rickles Mr. Warmth, lol
Burn Basu! up x, up!
DDareDDevil
fast, yup, just look at when it started(shorting), now look at end of dec, a huge drop in the short position, soooooo
looks like a little pop coming, huh?
sorry it takes so long, just here for a late lunch
DDareDDevil
short interests as of late, longs,,,
funny how much short interests have been up since Basu came aboard.
Date Short Interest % Change Avg.
Dec 14, 2007 8,023 -96.89
Nov 30, 2007 258,323 22.71
Nov 15, 2007 210,521 1,536.77
Oct 31, 2007 12,862 349.25
Oct 15, 2007 2,863 -98.95
Sep 28, 2007 273,869 -7.86
Jul 25, 2007 85,931 90.92
Jun 27, 2007 45,010 120.50
May 24, 2007 20,413 -93.44
Apr 24, 2007 311,289 3,787.71
wow, just look at april, looks like somebody knew we were going to have a lack of news and started a short streak.
geeeez, i wonder who would do that and how they knew to short, hmmmmm, almost as if some hedge fund manager knew no news was coming and knew the consequences. a 311,289 percent increase in short position!!
DDareDDevil
transam,,,we need a DD infusion!!!what is going on?
gut feelin bud,, somebody loadin' up.
you concur?
DDareDDevil
oldscholl, i agree, someyhing up, how many times in the last 2 years have we seen this pre-load signal?
somebody is loading up for the next little pop.
news coming soon, i can feel it in my bones!
DDareDDevil
mistaice, well said,,,
flippers paradise for sure for a little while i think, until,,,,booooom!
what was that stock last year that went up like 50,000 percent overnight due to the german market? can't remember, but the point is, longs woke up rich, so did SOME flippers, but those flippers that were waiting for the next bottom lost the opportunity to wake up rich.
heck, if i lose every cent i put in this, i can walk away saying, dang it. or dog-gone-it. it won't break me, but,,,,,,,,,,,,,it COULD make me.
i don't mind flippers, i have flipped, too. The flippers aren't keeping this stock down, no news and/or progress is the culprit.
time to wait,,,but not for very long, as i have said before, somebody was told something, that is why there is new money.
matter of time!
DDareDDevil
DDog, i still have that picture hanging on the wall in my office.
ya, what a mess! look what they did to our song, ma!
something has to pop soon or this latest tranch may be Basu's last tranch. At this point, the whole BOD is being ridiculed and probably embarrassed. just think, you buy into a large tranch only to find yourself the operator of a pinky that is involved in lawsuits, scandal, etc, lol.
that'll teach 'em! they have to perform now JUST to save their reputations, lmao
that is why i am hanging in, besides the obvious spoken so often here about how nicosan will help so many people. it wiil, but just who is going to produce and sell it? x or BMS? or somebody else?
well, somebody just bet around 500k that we will.
DDareDDevil
clrmng, no, just a muzzle, lmao!
come on down, fishing starts in or around mid febuary,
right now, it is as down as xkem stock is, lol.
i feel news coming! just a feeling.
DDareDDevil
hey clrmng, wassup buddy?,,,
i see you are still keeping the board entertained, lol
Goooo x!
DDareDDevil
sup mets?,,,
gimme a call
DDareDDevil
LT, watchin football and doing DD,,,
geez! hard to find any real info, i've tried the nigerian webcrawler, allafrica( all the time, lol) nada!
going to dig deeper, the harder they try to hide something, the more we dig. Raven has it right, DD time.
DDareDDevil
Fiat! enjoy the emails, lmao,,,
watchin the OU game, gettin our heads handed to us, lol.
been reading the board and trying to find anything on our xkem.
some of those emails are hillarious!
DDareDDevil
DDog, wassup?,,,
long time no see! And you are correct, way too much speculation and some here seem to think they are THE connection.
I heard so much next weeks last year it burned me out! we waited for months while some posters were saying REALLY BIG NEWS COMING NEXT WEEK. Then to make things worse, they then switched to " this is a scam!"
f pumper/dumpers!
folks, if it ain't in the news don't trust what you hear, and if it IS in the news, don't trust it, lol. last year, summer time, we were told we had a lock on 8 million bucks from nexim/exim, this was in the news! 8 months later, we were still trying to get the dang money!
IF this company gets it's act together, then we will pop! if not, we implode.
personally, i am going to wait and just read what others are saying, like i have sources that tell me lies, lmao!
i still say, time for a PI.
DDareDDevil
LT, thanks,,,
time for a P.I.?
perhaps we should all chip in and hire us one, could be useful.
Personally, i think sales ARE increasing and i also think more news coming within 30 days, but no definate info, just playin the odds on when news of some sort will come out.
I base this on the fact that SOMEBODY was willing to invest in x here recently and you know how that works, they couldn't have sold any of this stock to ANYONE with a statement like, " Well, we aren't selling very much right now, and the lawsuit looks real bad for us, and besides that, we are dead broke broke with absolutely no hope of survival".
Indeed! come on! These new investors were told SOMETHING positive!
just my thoughts, what do you think ole friend? Good news coming and they get the jump?
DDareDDevil
LT,,,
i was just wondering what this money is for, since by now, they should be selling enough nicosan to pay for most expenses.
i guess they aren't selling enough.
my question is, are they going to use this new money wisely this time and if some portion of this might go towards the alembic default?
DDareDDevil
LT,,,
long time buddy! can you tell me, what portion, if any, will go towards Alembic?
thanks!
DDareDDevil
Drift,,,
time to get on that old hog and ride, ride, ride!
come back later and check your investment. right now, i am down on quite a few stocks, so i just wait and stay busy with other things.
lol, even a downtrending stocks has bounces.
at least we know the powers that be, lmao, will be all over Basu and company IF this went to 001.
he will be ruined in the investment world, if not already.
to put it simply,,, if Basu approached you with a good "deal",
would you give him your money?
DDareDDevil
omar, yup, agreed,,,
i am not bashing, just stating the obvious,,,at least i think it is.
too bad, looks like we are going to be stuck even longer than anticipated..
hang in longs, i think we have some news soon, just don't want our x to go down too far, like 001
DDareDDevil
Mets, thanks, yes i did,,
sorry i didn't call you last weekend, but i was up to my @ZZ in alligators and crocodiles, lol
DDareDDevil
seems shorting a stock this low would be a little too risky for your average investor,,
unless you just recieved bad news,,,such as further dilution,,,or have inside info from somebody like Basu.
seems to me that a reverse split will now be an absolute neccessity in the future.
DDareDDevil
mets, you were correct last spring and summer...
these c rooks are getting this company and it's product litterally for nothing,,, guess Basu has shown his true colors eh?
yup, down to 0.001 we go, *&&^$&^&*&^(*&%##$#
hard to believe a company with a product worth hundreds of millions will end up in this guys hands for pennies.
DDareDDevil
mets,,,
correctamundo.
not only that, but they can play open market, including shorting.
later buddy
DDareDDevil
clrmng, gotta go, later bud,,,,,
besides, after all this time, either you were just being lazy or you were layin a trap! lol
talk to you later!
DDareDDevil
clrmng, IF i ever see green,,,
i may smoke it, lmao
ya, been here for a couple years and just look what our pps is. red, red, red, lol.
looking for news soon imo.
DDareDDevil
clrmng, sup man? don't have any time anytime now!
lol, wasssuuuppp!
DDareDDevil
hinch, agree, time to buy in,,
double bottom coming, anticipation building!!!
DDareDDevil
everybody happy now?
i posted at .002 that this was probably a good bet for me to ave in at, but refused to give advice on whether some of you should buy. i don't give advice, sorry, but merely stated what a hundred dollars would be worth at a later time.
glad to see we went up some, but this is nothing compared to where we will be in about a year.
many ups and downs coming, many flippers on this stock, many. lol.
good luck to us all!
DDareDDevil
clemng, oh, sorry about the spelling of,,,
your name wrong! don't maqke me subscribe just to show the new guys here what a real master of humor is capable of, lol.
he he, sounds like fun, see ya on the graphics and raise you one when i get back.
DDareDDevil
clrmng, lol,,,
so would i.
DDareDDevil
xechems attorney,,,
http://www.simonandlupo.net/Attorneys.shtml/1308581_1
lot of experience,,,or old fart, which ever you prefer, lol.
DDareDDevil
Dr. Pandey's attorney,,,,
http://www.foley.com/people/bio.aspx?employeeid=25583
nice!
DDareDDevil
abracky,,,
i can't tell you that. sorry!
DDareDDevil
seale,,,
two reasons to sell;
1. to stop a loss
2. to take profit
two reasons to buy;
1. stock is at a price lower than what you believe it is worth
2. stock is at a price lower than what you believe it is worth
lol
no advice from me, sorry! everybody's position is different.
ya, we go down on no news, as this is a pinky it is of even more importance. since pinks don't usually put out information such as the a/s and o/s, the information is valuable.
i am into a couple of pinks, one won't shutup, the other must be verbally impared or something. intk puts out a darn news alert about twice a weeks, the other, ptsh, won't say anything unless they are in a good mood. the volume on both is indicative of their openess.
x doesn't say anything at all, so we are left to imagine only the worst, i.e., going bankrupt, being shutdown, ipo, everybody going to africa, etc, etc.
so we go down for now, and you have a choice to make;
i believe in nicosan and the new bod to pull it together.
i think they are going to fail and i need to bail.
i personally will say this;
we went to 12 cents a little over a year ago on rumor. so look now, we are at what, .2 cents? divide .12 by .002 and you get 60. i put 100 bucks in, not much to lose right? but if we ever get back to 12 cents, which we will if the company survives, and you get back 6000 bucks. so my thought is, if I can't afford to lose the 100 bucks short term, or I need a return to make a living, I walk away. if my thought is to put a few bucks in for the future for when i retire and I don't need the income, hey, why not.
i fit in the later. i don't need to worry about the 100 bucks and if i lose it, well, i learned a lot, got a heck of a lot of entertainment and will continue on putting a hundred here and there until i lose a a thou or two, or until i get one of those 60X investment.
there was a guy here on our xechem stock and this board we knew as knowlesmsn.com, a real nice guy, he once told me he rode a several thousand dollar investment on two different times and stocks, to almost a million dollars each, only to watch both of them fall back down to a near loss.
i think losing a hundred bucks is worth the possibilty of returning 6,000. but i don't have anything in it right now i can't afford to walk away from.
good luck, man. only you know what you need to do.
DDareDDevil
from the 14th,,,
may be old news, but i am playing catch up.
Business Daily (Nairobi)
14 November 2007
Posted to the web 14 November 2007
Ismail Serageldin And Calestous Juma
Much of the debate about biotechnology in Africa assumes that African countries are only being asked to accept products developed elsewhere. To the contrary, Freedom to Innovate: Biotechnology in Africa's Development shows that
extensive biotechnology research is under way in Africa.
Africa's governments, its industry and its research institutions are well aware of the potential that agricultural biotechnology holds if applied in other ways and to indigenous crops.
A study of 13 public institutions in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Egypt and South Africa showed that biotechnology applications have been performed on 21 crops.
The genes incorporated into the crops include those that confer insect, fungal, viral and bacterial resistance, protein quality improvements, herbicide tolerance, and salt and drought resistance.
In South Africa, for example, about 20 to 30 per cent of yellow maize and 80 per cent of cotton are now genetically modified varieties.
Estimates for 2004 production showed that about 27 per cent of total yellow maize crop (for animal feed) was genetically-modified (GM).
Less than eight per cent of the white maize grown (for human consumption) is GM.
An insect-resistant potato was developed in South Africa in 2001. The goal was to help small farmers to grow this on a commercial scale. The potatoes performed well in field trials but commercialisation has been delayed.
The first GM biotechnology product to be developed in Kenya was a virus-and weevil-resistant sweet potato. This project began in 1991. The sweet potato trials met some setbacks because it is believed that the construct for the virus resistance was not well tested and it did not perform well under field trials.
In addition, KARI in partnership with the international maize laboratory CYMMIT in Mexico has been developing insect resistant transgenic maize. The maize was tested in field trials in May 2005.
Egypt has worked on more varieties of crops than any other country in Africa. The Genetic Engineering Services Unit (GESU) of the Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI) in Egypt has been actively involved in micropropagation of Satavia rebaudiana and mulberry, as well as the production of diagnostic kits for detecting viruses in banana, potato, tomato and beans.
Plant biotechnology research at AGERI also includes transferring genes that confer virus resistance, bacterial resistance, insect resistance, stress tolerance and fungal resistance on such crops as potato, cotton, maize, faba beans, cucurbits, wheat, banana and date palm.
Insect resistant potato is another of the major crops that have been worked on in Egypt by AGERI in partnership with Michigan State University in the USA. Several varieties of potato were transformed for potato tuber moth resistance including a widely grown Dutch variety in Egypt, Spunta. Spunta.
The potato has not been commercialised because of trade concerns in the European Union over GM crops.
The Uganda National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) opened a new research laboratory in 2003 to conduct work on the genetic modification of banana. The goal was to insert genes that will confer resistance to Black Sigatoka and banana weevils.
Field trials on Bt cotton have been carried out in several countries including Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Tanzania and Burkina Faso have recently started field trials, while Mali was slated to start field trials in 2005. However, a cotton trial in Zambia has had to be halted because biosafety regulations were not ready at the time.
Biotechnology is being employed to improve the nutritional content of sorghum thanks to the work of a consortium of institutions from Africa, Japan and the US.
Funded by the Gates Foundation and led by Kenya-based Africa Harvest, the consortium's members include the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the African Agricultural Technology Foundation, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), and the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) of South Africa.
Relevant Links
Food, Agriculture and Rural Issues
Science and Biotechnology
Sustainable Development
Livestock is critical to agriculture and to food production in Africa, as it is elsewhere.
Yet, according to some estimates, Africa's livestock community is expected to become the most important agricultural sector in terms of physical products derived from agriculture, such as meat products and leather.
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is at the forefront of using biotechnology to develop new and improved animal vaccines as well as developing diagnostic tools to combat livestock diseases. These include in particular the high-priority 'orphan' diseases of Africa and South Asia.
fast, this is from the 15th,,,
Scientists at a Kemri laboratory November 15, 2007: Much of the debate about biotechnology in Africa assumes that African countries are only being asked to accept products developed elsewhere. To the contrary, Freedom to Innovate: Biotechnology in Africa’s Development shows that extensive biotechnology research is under way in Africa.
Africa’s governments, its industry and its research institutions are well aware of the potential that agricultural biotechnology holds if applied in other ways and to indigenous crops.
A study of 13 public institutions in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Egypt and South Africa showed that biotechnology applications have been performed on 21 crops.
The genes incorporated into the crops include those that confer insect, fungal, viral and bacterial resistance, protein quality improvements, herbicide tolerance, and salt and drought resistance.
In South Africa, for example, about 20 to 30 per cent of yellow maize and 80 per cent of cotton are now genetically modified varieties.
Estimates for 2004 production showed that about 27 per cent of total yellow maize crop (for animal feed) was genetically-modified (GM).
Less than eight per cent of the white maize grown (for human consumption) is GM.
An insect-resistant potato was developed in South Africa in 2001. The goal was to help small farmers to grow this on a commercial scale. The potatoes performed well in field trials but commercialisation has been delayed.
The first GM biotechnology product to be developed in Kenya was a virus-and weevil-resistant sweet potato. This project began in 1991. The sweet potato trials met some setbacks because it is believed that the construct for the virus resistance was not well tested and it did not perform well under field trials.
In addition, KARI in partnership with the international maize laboratory CYMMIT in Mexico has been developing insect resistant transgenic maize. The maize was tested in field trials in May 2005.
Egypt has worked on more varieties of crops than any other country in Africa. The Genetic Engineering Services Unit (GESU) of the Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI) in Egypt has been actively involved in micropropagation of Satavia rebaudiana and mulberry, as well as the production of diagnostic kits for detecting viruses in banana, potato, tomato and beans.
Plant biotechnology research at AGERI also includes transferring genes that confer virus resistance, bacterial resistance, insect resistance, stress tolerance and fungal resistance on such crops as potato, cotton, maize, faba beans, cucurbits, wheat, banana and date palm.
Insect resistant potato is another of the major crops that have been worked on in Egypt by AGERI in partnership with Michigan State University in the USA. Several varieties of potato were transformed for potato tuber moth resistance including a widely grown Dutch variety in Egypt, Spunta. Spunta.
The potato has not been commercialised because of trade concerns in the European Union over GM crops.
The Uganda National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) opened a new research laboratory in 2003 to conduct work on the genetic modification of banana. The goal was to insert genes that will confer resistance to Black Sigatoka and banana weevils.
Field trials on Bt cotton have been carried out in several countries including Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Tanzania and Burkina Faso have recently started field trials, while Mali was slated to start field trials in 2005. However, a cotton trial in Zambia has had to be halted because biosafety regulations were not ready at the time.
Biotechnology is being employed to improve the nutritional content of sorghum thanks to the work of a consortium of institutions from Africa, Japan and the US.
Funded by the Gates Foundation and led by Kenya-based Africa Harvest, the consortium’s members include the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the African Agricultural Technology Foundation, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), and the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) of South Africa.
Livestock is critical to agriculture and to food production in Africa, as it is elsewhere.
Yet, according to some estimates, Africa’s livestock community is expected to become the most important agricultural sector in terms of physical products derived from agriculture, such as meat products and leather.
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is at the forefront of using biotechnology to develop new and improved animal vaccines as well as developing diagnostic tools to combat livestock diseases. These include in particular the high-priority ‘orphan’ diseases of Africa and South Asia.
The centre’s research is also aimed at conserving the wealth of what is called the ‘barnyard’ genetic diversity of Africa and other developing nations; and for improving the feed value of crops in crop-livestock systems.
One third of its US$35 million annual budget is spent on research in biotechnology.
More than 100 scientists, technicians and students work in an array of fields including bioinformatics, biometrics, diagnostics, immunology, microbiology, parasitology, and recombinant DNA technology.
Specific ILRI projects include research to identify genetic markers for tolerance to African trypanosomiasis in N’Dama cattle, and for resistance to parasites in Red Maasai sheep.
ILRI is currently looking to develop a vaccine against East Coast Fever (caused by Theileria parva) in cattle and preliminary trials with five candidate vaccines are currently underway. The Laboratoire National de l’Elevage et de Recherches veterinaires (LNERV) in Senegal is West Africa’s principal veterinary research laboratory.
Established more than 50 years ago, LNERV has extensive experience of research in animal health and husbandry, particularly in developing vaccines. LNERV is also involved in developing diagnostic tools for better surveillance of animal diseases.
LNERV is also involved in developing and implementing disease control strategies in Senegal and broader West Africa.
LNERV has also produced rinderpest and African swine fever diagnostic kits as well as 25 different types of veterinary vaccines equivalent to some 50 million doses per year. New vaccines in the pipeline include those for anthrax, Newcastle disease in rural poultry and Rift Valley fever.
In South Africa, biotechnology is being used to develop molecular diagnostic kits for tick-borne diseases found in livestock.
Where South Africa leads the way is in bringing together and leading consortia of public and private sector groups in developed and developing countries.
One testing kit that was launched in March 2005, for example, was produced through collaborative work carried out by a consortium comprising the University of Pretoria, Utrecht University, Isogen Life Science and the ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute.
Work is currently underway to transfer genetic material from the indigenous Bosmara cattle to farmers in developing countries using embryo transfer technology.
The aim here is to transfer useful traits in cattle breeds in other countries using conventional animal breeding methods. Several live recombinant vaccines have been developed for use in primates and livestock.
Ethiopia’s National Veterinary Institute (NVI) has the capability to study and screen micro-organisms for biological compounds that could have applications in vaccines and other therapeutic purposes. The institute produces viral vaccines against Rinderpest, Sheep-pox, Newcastle disease, African horse sickness, foot-and-mouth disease.
It also produces bacterial vaccines against contagious Bovine pleuropneumonia, anthrax, and blackleg, among others. NVI developed a recombinant DNA-based vaccine against Rinderpest in collaboration with University of California, Davis.
Vaccine research is also carried out extensively by the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
The university works on a research project on DNA sequencing of vaccines for the prevention of the infectious Bursal disease (also known as Gumboro disease), a major source of poultry deaths worldwide. There is no known cure for the disease.
Biotechnology in healthcare offers more effective disease diagnosis, prevention and treatment. In the coming years, it is going to change how we understand and treat diseases.
And, as in agriculture, the health biotech sector also offers much potential for boosting Africa’s economies. Health biotechnologies allow scientists to identify genes linked to particular diseases. In addition, new technologies allow researchers to develop genetic tests for a range of illnesses.
Several African countries now have programmes dedicated to healthcare biotechnology R&D. These include Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
For example, the application of molecular markers for mapping disease resistance in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum is being carried out at the Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre.
Another activity that has Africa-wide implications is the search for natural products, often used in traditional medicines, but which could have potential uses in modern pharmaceutical research.
A good example is that of NICOSAN, a herbal medicine commonly used in Africa. Nigeria’s National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development in Abuja has discovered that it is also effective in treating sickle-cell disorder.
Applications of indigenous knowledge in health biotechnology research and development include isolating and patenting active ingredients from a plant Hoodia gordonii, which has hunger-suppressing properties. This plant has been traditionally used by the San people who live in a semi-desert part of Botswana, to suppress hunger and thirst during long bouts of hunting.
In addition, under the Southern African Biosciences Network (SANBio) the CSIR of South Africa and other collaborations in Southern Africa are engaged in a project to scientifically-validate traditional medicines for their potential to treat infections suffered by people living with HIV/Aids. Kenya has developed an inexpensive but effective diagnostic testing kit for Hepatitis B called Hepcell.
Now in use in all district and provincial hospitals, Hepcell is an indigenous effort led by the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) with support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Egypt also has an active healthcare biotechnology industry. Products have been developed that can treat such conditions as cardiovascular, cancer, anaemia and diabetes.
Africa is claiming its place in the world of biotechnology. The lessons contained in Freedom to Innovate will help policy makers strengthen these efforts, forge greater international partnerships and establish Africa as an emerging player in the biotechnology revolution.
Dr Serageldin is director of the Library of Alexandria and member of the Senate of Egypt, and Prof Juma teaches at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. They co-chair the High-Level African Panel on Biotechnology of the AU and NEPAD.
Related story:
Africa should bank on innovation
By Calestous Juma and Ismail Serageldin
Biotechnology offers a wide range of economic growth opportunities for Africa. But as “Freedom to Innovate”, a biotechnology report on Africa’s Development shows, the continent needs to locate biotechnology policy in the context of wider economic strategies. Technological development goes hand in hand with overall economic growth and not as an isolated activity.
The report addresses critical issues related to Africa’s place in a globalising economy. It demonstrates what is needed to build the capacity needed to apply biotechnology in agriculture, health, industry, trade, and environmental conservation (including biodiversity conservation).
“Freedom to Innovate” shows that the measures needed to address biotechnology will strengthen Africa’s capacity to adapt other technologies to economic development. This report has placed these wider considerations in the context of the role of innovation in economic transformation.
The main message of “Freedom to Innovate” is that regional economic integration in Africa should embody the building and accumulation of capacities to harness and govern modern biotechnology.
Regional economic integration bodies are key institutional vehicles for mobilising, sharing and using existing scientific and technological capacities, including human and financial resources as well as physical infrastructure for biotechnology R&D and innovation.
International partnerships in biotechnology are critical to the realisation of Africa’s biotechnology strategies and should be pursued aggressively.
The panel draws it recommendations from analysis of the current research and development on the continent and outside Africa and some of the emerging social, economic, legal and political issues that surround the development, dissemination and commercialisation of products from biotechnology.
A key outcome of the work of the panel is the creation of what we call “Regional Innovation Communities” involving groups of countries in eastern, western, northern and southern Africa.
The innovation communities may be anchored by geographically-defined “Local Innovation Areas” with the clustering of universities, professional associations, enterprise and other actors with critical capabilities in agricultural, health, industrial and environmental biotechnologies.
Freedom to Innovate identifies five critical areas for action. First, is the need to put science and innovation at the centre of Africa’s development, regional integration and trade efforts.
Second, attention should be placed on priority areas in fields such as biopharmaceuticals, health biotechnology, crop biotechnology and forest biotechnology.
Third, Africa needs to build critical capabilities for the development and safe use of biotechnology.
These capabilities include: infrastructure development, reinventing the African university, developing human capacities and engaging the public.
Fourth, Africa should establish continent-wide regulatory measures that are effective, transparent and efficient and are based on the co-evolutionary approach of promoting innovation, while protecting the public.
Fifth, the continent should build regional biotechnology innovation communities, as well as suggesting options for financing biotechnology, engaging the African diaspora, and designing effective collaborations with international partners.
The starting point in implementing the recommendations in Freedom to Innovate is the urgency that African heads of state and government place on the strategic role that technological innovation plays in economic transformation.