JOHANNESBURG - Africa's industrialisation will be in focus at a Human Science Research Council regional conference this week, organisers said on Monday.
The May 23-24 meeting, with the theme "Accelerating Industrialisation in Africa: Implications for Job Creation and Poverty Alleviation", will bring together thought leaders and academics to discuss human capital development, national systems of innovation and the role of natural resources endowment which support industrialisation.
“Industrialisation is at the core of Africa’s development agenda, the core of which is to reduce poverty and inequality through, amongst others, the creation of decent jobs," said conference chairperson Emmanuel Owusu-Sekyere.
“To enable these objectives, governments, business and civil society in Africa must begin to implement their plans aimed at growing their economies."
The conference is organised in partnership with the South African Department of Science and Technology, the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, the Tshwane University of Technology, City of Tshwane, the International Council for Science, the Water Research Commission,the University of South Africa and Ditsong Museum of South Africa.
The Human Sciences Research Council was established in 1968 as South Africa’s statutory research agency and has grown to become the largest dedicated research institute in the social sciences and humanities in African.