The document provides an overview of the African Open Science Platform (AOSP) pilot study and selected findings from a landscape study on open science in Africa. The AOSP aims to promote open data policies, training, and infrastructure across Africa. Over its 3-year pilot period it established an African Open Data Forum, launched initiatives in several countries, and identified 66 African research projects that could benefit from improved data sharing. The landscape study found that while certain countries and initiatives are making progress, challenges remain around low research funding, lack of open data policies, limited e-infrastructure, and gaps in health, government, and other data. Overall, more investment is still needed to strengthen Africa's science and technology systems and

1. Pilot Study and Landscape
Findings
Himla Soodyall & Ina Smith
Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)
AOSP Delivery Phase Planning Workshop,
Alexandria, Egypt
2 - 3 Sept. 2019

2. Part I:
Pilot Study – Himla Soodyall

3. About AOSP
• Outcome of ISC “Open Data in a
Big Data World”
• NRF/ASSAf agreement signed on
9 Feb. 2017
• October 2016 – October 2019 (3
years)
• Fully funded by the National
Research Foundation (NRF) (SA
Dept. of Science and Technology)
• Directed by CODATA (ISC)
• Managed by Academy of Science
of South Africa (ASSAf)
• Through ASSAf hosting ISC
Regional Office for Africa (ISC
ROA)

4. Addressing the UN SDGs
“… Africa’s common objectives
and commitment to
collective actions to develop
and use science and
technology for the socio-
economic transformation of
the continent and its
integration into the world
economy.”
- Africa Consolidated Science and
Technology Plan of Action (2005)

5. UNECA Africa Regional Forum
“T[t]he creation of an African
platform for research and
innovation exchange will enable
the dissemination of goal-relevant
African research and innovation to
governments and citizens. It could
form the basis for linking
researchers and innovators with
the funding required to scale up
their work. The proposed platform
would showcase and share Africa’s
efforts to develop goal-relevant
research and innovation and could
be coordinated with the Global
Innovation Exchange.” – Dakar (2018)

6. STI Strategy of Africa 2024
8 Priorities for the African research community –
will be requiring data, data sharing, openness (as
open possible, as closed necessary) and
collaboration:
disease prevention & control;
climate resilience (disaster risk);
environmental protection (biosphere, hydrosphere);
food and nutritional security;
smart resilient cities;
achieving sustainability goals;
improved knowledge production;
improved intra-Africa research collaboration.

7. South African White Paper on STI
“As part of its commitment to
African STI cooperation, South
Africa will also work to advance
the open science agenda
elsewhere on the continent and
within regional frameworks. The
strategic role of the African Open
Science Platform, hosted by the
Academy of Science of South
Africa, which promotes African-
wide development and
coordination of data policies, data
training and data infrastructure,
will be leveraged with the support
of the DST and the National
Research Foundation (NRF).”
– SA White Paper on Science, Technology
and Innovation (2018)

8. 7 Pilot Deliverables
Established an African Open Data Forum
Launched AOSP during SFSA 2016
Framework for incentives for sharing
research data
Framework for open data policies
Framework for capacity building in research
data
Framework & roadmap for e-Infrastructure
Landscape report on Open Data in Africa

9. Specific Highlights
• National Open Data Fora
established in:
• Botswana: Draft White Paper on
Open Research Data Strategy
• Madagascar: National Data
Roadmap & drafting of Open
Data policy
• Uganda: Draft Open Data policy
• South Africa: SA-EU Open
Science Policy Framework &
Action Plan

10. African Open Data Forum
• 44+ AOSP events attended by representatives from 37
African countries – funded many individuals
• 66+ data-intensive research initiatives identified (incl.
priority disciplines)
• Registry of 1,900 individuals in OS, OD, STI, ICT, IPR, HE,
Funders
• AOSP School of Research Data Science – Ethiopia
(2019) (with CODATA & RDA)
• International, Continental, National
• Website http://africanopenscience.org.za/
• Mailing list
• Webinars
• Desktop & Literature Studies

11. Stakeholder Consultation
• AAS
• AfDB
• AU – NEPAD, PAP
• AAU
• ISC (CODATA, WDS,
ROA)
• African governments,
research councils,
universities
• Centres of Excellence
• NAS & NASAC
• NRENs
• RDA
• SGCI
• TWAS
• UN
• IAP
• Etc

13. JISC (UK)
NSF (US)
(Europe)
Compute ARDC
(Australia)
EOSC
Canada

14. Building on & towards …
Oct 2016 – Oct 2019 Oct 2019 -

15. Part II:
Selected Landscape Study Findings –
Ina Smith

17. https://flightaware.com/live/
Live view of airspace on 12 August 2019 –
People on the move …

18. http://www.nature.com/news/data-sharing-make-outbreak-
research-open-access-1.16966

19. Challenges regarding Health Data
• Delay in sharing data
collected
• Gaps in data
• Lack of adherence to
international standards
• Uncertainty about IP rights
• Can data be trusted?
• Patient consent? Privacy?
Security?
• Absence of patient consent
• And more

20. 1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
2. Internet of Things (IoT)
3. Robotics

21. Government Data
• Strategy for the Harmonisation of Statistics in
Africa (SHaSA) (ECA, AfDB, AU)
• AFRISTAT
• STATAFRIC (Pan-African Institute for Statistics)
• Sunlight Foundation
• Open Data Barometer
• G20 Anti-Corruption Open Data Principles
• Africa Data Consensus Roadmap

22. E.g. CIRAD,
FAOSTAT, KAiNeT,
RCMRD,
CSIRSpace
E.g. H3Africa,
AHRI, APHRC,
GHDx,
MalariaGEN
E.g. CGKP, SAEON,
RESILIENCE
ATLAS, WASCAL
E.g. AfReMaS,
IODE,
ODINAFRICA,
SAIAB
E.g. GBIF,ReBioMa,
ICRAF, CERSGIS,
CGIAR, GLOSS,
MASDAP, SERVIR,
AMMA-CATCH,
SASSCAL
E.g. OHADA,
DICAMES
Research Data Initiatives (66+)

23. Square Kilometre Array
African SKA
Consortium
Botswana, Ghana,
Kenya, Madagascar,
Mauritius,
Mozambique,
Namibia, South
Africa and Zambia

25. “R3 million has been
spent on catering and a
further R4 million on
transport in the area since
construction began in
2012.
One hundred and seven
locals have been
employed by the South
African Astronomical
Observatory between
2015 and 2017.”

27. SKA SA Managing Director Rob Adam
said, “We have electricians being trained,
boilermakers, fitters and turners and
people splashing the fibre that carries the
signal from the satellites through the
computers, that fibre is being splashed by
people from the local community.”

28. H3ABioNet

29. Global Biodiversity Information Facility

30. https://www.slideshare.net/AfricanOpenSciencePl/developments-in-
connected-regional-sadc-cyberinfrastructure-to-support-data-sharing-
open-sciencetshiamo-motshegwa-81412672
SADC e-Infrastructure Strategy
In support of
SADC Strategic
Plan on STI
R&D, Innovation,
Industrialisation
pillar of Digital
SADC 2027
initiative

32. OSActivities/Initiatives
200 OA DOAJ-listed journals
174 IRs registered on OpenDOAR
34 OA policies on ROARMAP
24 data repositories registered on
re3data, while study identified
66+
1 data repository assigned
CoreTrustSeal

33. BUT …

34. African Investment in Science, ICT
• Low levels of organisation and funding of many
science systems in Africa - UNECA 2018
Sustainable Development Report
• Kenya & SA closest to AUs target of investing
1% of annual GDP in R&D (Kenya & SA invest
0.8%)
• R&D expenditure of 24 African countries
unknown

35. Political Willingness
National Academies of Science [26]
National Young Academies of Science [18]
R&D spending between 0.5%-0.8% of GDP [12]
African Science Granting Councils [15]
Incentives & recognition for sharing research data [2]
Ministries of Science/Technology/Innovation [25]
National Open Data policy & policy initiatives [5]

36. Challenges on Continent

38. Level 4 Formal NREN with services Burundi, Ethiopia, Madagascar,
Mozambique, Namibia, Sudan,
Tanzania, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria,
Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia
Level 5 REN-REN links established Uganda
Level 6 NREN offers REN-specific
advanced services
Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, SA, Zambia
(since 2019)
18
National Research Education Network
(NREN) Status

39. GÉANT – AfricaConnect 2
https://www.geant.org/News_and_Events/Pages/Mapping-the-global-RandE-community.aspx
AfricaConnect 3 – end 2019 (aligned with Digital4Development Strategy)
Priorities of the Digital4Development (D4D) strategy

40. Connected Countries
 ASREN - Algeria, Egypt, Lybia, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia
(4 connected; 2 not yet connected)
 WACREN - Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte
d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria,
Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo
(3 connected; 11 not yet connected)
 UbuntuNet Alliance - Burundi, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique,
Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania,
Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
(10 connected; 6 not yet connected)
17 connected; 19 not connected

41. AfricanICTLandscape

43. Sub-marine Cables reaching
Africa up to 2018
https://manypossibilities.net/african-
undersea-cables/

45. “It was revealed last month [April 2019] that the tech
giant plans to launch a network of more than 3,000 low
Earth orbit satellites to provide high-speed broadband
connectivity to "unserved and underserved
communities around the world".

46. https://www.businessinsider.co.za/google-is-building-a-powerful-new-
internet-cable-from-europe-to-south-africa-2019-6

47. e-Infrastructure Challenges
Connectivity & Bandwidth
• Selected governments have low awareness of
value of NREN – Foley (2016)
• Many NRENs not operational, low/no budgets
• Commercial public ISPs a threat to NRENs,
while NRENs do far more than just being an ISP
• Private ISPs with monopolies (Central, West
Africa) close down access to cable landing
stations – not allowing other competitors into
market, keeping costs high

48. • Power outages on continent interrupting
Internet service delivery, interrupting science
• Cloud services require high-speed Internet
access/broadband - very expensive
• Medium-scale server infrastructures only; not
trusted; infrastructure not funded
(H3ABioNet)
• Small number of computer workstations,
outdated/software outdated

49. e-Infrastructure Status &
Challenges
Data Management (Curation)
• Only one trusted registered data repository on
continent (CoreTrustSeal)
• Lack of centralised, secure data storage
• Data repositories not registered with Registry
of Research Data Repositories (re3data.org)
• Data management plans not the norm, due to
lack of policies/funder requirements

50. • Few repositories use proper data repository
software or science gateways, tailor-made for
purpose, adhering to international best practise
regarding persistent identifiers, metadata,
licensing, IPR, data citation, archiving, and
back-up of data
• Some instances - low awareness of free and
open source software (FOSS) to collaborate and
share data

51. • Institutional metric & funding systems rely heavily
on publishing in high impact factor publications
• Data sharing not acknowledged for promotional
purposes/performance appraisal – lack of
incentives
• Researchers want to exhaust publication
possibilities before sharing data
• Trust – ‘parachute’ research prevent sharing – in
past African researchers were often excluded and
not acknowledged for contributions to
international research
Research Cultures Impacting
on Data Sharing

52. • Lack of proper infrastructure makes
collaboration and data sharing impossible
• Already lack of support for publishing research
papers (African researchers fund own
publication costs – even more so for data
sharing)

53. African Research Policy/
Legislation Framework
• EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
has increased awareness on risks of personal
data in digital world
• 17 African countries have adopted data
protection legislation
• Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA)
in SA
• AU Convention on Cyber-security and Personal
Data Protection signed by 14 African member
countries; ratified by 5 African countries

54. • Open data policies where data are regarded as
“assets” e.g. Botswana International University
of Science and Technology (BIUST), Makerere
University (Uganda)
• Policies to:
• Discourage “helicopter research”
• Allow for recognition and partnership opportunities
for African researchers
• Protect researchers – what to share, what not

55. • Progress re Open Data/Open Science Policies
• Botswana – Draft White Paper on Open Research
Data Strategy
• Madagascar – Lobbying for Open Data policy
• South Africa – White Paper on STI
• Uganda – Draft Open Data Policy
• Policies not aligned, harmonised (STI, IP, HE,
ICT, Research)
• IP protection undeveloped, ineffective,
expensive, unenforced

56. • African Observatory of Science and Technology
Indicators (AOSTI)
• Established in 2011 (AU) to help African countries
build capacity for STI policy activities and initiatives
• AOSTI Report: Assessment of Scientific
Production in the African Union (2005 – 2010)
• Recommended “creating open and free access
publication outlets for Africa, with improved review
committees” – AU AOSTI (2014)
• Challenge of high article publication & subscription
fees
Build on …

57. Harmonisation of Policies
• E.g. ICT: HIPSSA (Harmonization of ICT Policies
in Sub-Saharan Africa – Access to Submarine
Cables in West Africa – Assessment Report)
• Regulation of telecom sector in collaboration with
WATRA
• E.g. Food Security: Delayed harmonisation
of policies for encouraging the transfer of
seeds across East and Southern Africa is
hampering trade and increased agricultural
growth

58. Capacity Building Initiatives
• NRENs providing training e.g. KENET (Kenya),
CHPC (SA) – network management, blockchain,
programming, data processing etc.
• Training through funded projects e.g.
H3ABioNet bioinformatics training & GBIF
Biodiversity for Development Programme
• University & short courses e.g. dLAB (University
of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania))
• Online Open Science courses e.g. Open Science
MOOC, Coursera, FOSTER, MANTRA, AIMS

59. • The Carpentries – trained 19 instructors from
Africa, presented 110 workshops in Africa,
trained 1,577 delegates from Africa
• CODATA-RDA School of Research Data Science
(Rwanda, 2018) – AOSP sponsored 3
participants
• AOSP School of Research Data Science in
collaboration with CODATA & RDA (Ethiopia,
2019) – 20+ participants

60. Similar to EOSC ….
"We are not building the future EOSC [AOSP]
from scratch, but will be starting from what
members of the community worked in the last
years: inclusiveness is going to be critical,
especially in regions whose voice has not been
heard enough so far." -
Cathrin Stöver, Chief Collaboration Officer, GÉANT

61. Key to Future AOSP
• Collaboration among countries, institutions,
projects, researchers – sharing resources; free flow
of data, research, knowledge
• Trust relationships, openness, transparency –
trusting others for having your best interest at
heart, and not because of the profits they can
make from your research
• Researcher driven – needs addressed & bring
infrastructure to data
• Keep momentum, strong leadership, build on
knowledge (also tacit) collected through project

62. Thank you!
AOSP Advisory Council
AOSP Technical Advisory Board
AOSP Community
International Science Community
SA Dept. of Science & Technology (now Dept. of
Science & Innovation), National Research
Foundation (NRF)
Stakeholders engaged with, especially in
developing the landscape study & frameworks

63. Bibliography
Academy of Science of South Africa (2019), African Open
Science Platform - Landscape Study.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/assaf.2019/0047
Under embargo until 30 September 2019