January Makamba's Visit To Smart29ers 18/09/2012

[Andrew Mahiga]

Hello 29ers,

For those of you who attended the meeting yesterday you will know that I have organized for January Makamba to pay us a visit during our weekly meeting next Tuesday at 5.30pm.

We discussed that we should not just invite him to observe our meeting but create a discussion that can involve him and relate to his position as the Deputy Minister of Science & Technology in Tanzania. I gave the idea that since the theme for next year's international dialogue will be "Leveraging Technology for socio-economic development",  I suggested that next week's discussion be centered around that. Shubi and Khalila will also be presenting on "A strong and competitive economy" in relation to the Tanzania Vision 2025 so we can intertwine these two discussions.

I've opened this discussion for us to brainstorm on what we can bring up to January in regards to the above theme and also for us to think about the following questions and possibly have thoughtful answers by the time we meet next Tuesday:

1. What does "leveraging" technology mean in regards to socio-economic development?

2. What would we describe as "Technology" in regards to socio-economic development? 

3. Is the problem that Tanzanians do not have access to "technology" or that they have access to it but are not using it to its full potential?

4. In regards to Tanzania Vision 2025, how can "technology" be used to improve our position in the 5 pillars we have been discussing for the past few week?

5. Seeing that on average, about 80% of our economy is based on agriculture, when we speak of "technology" where do we really need to focus our discussion?

I hope these questions have sparked more questions and answers for you guys. Looking forward to getting the discussion started on this group BEFORE we meet again on Tuesday. It also goes without saying that please be on time next week and if you cannot make it please let the group know in advance. Yesterday's attendance and punctuality was appalling to say the least.

Best regards,

- Andrew

[khalil...@gmail.com]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the below...very helpful...

On issue of time;every tuesday,I have any important meeting from 4pm to 5:30pm hence my late arrivals. Its impossible for me to be on time even next week. Should it be a problem given that we have January coming by; I can forgo next week and maybe Shubi can do the presentation. Shubi?

Blessings,
Kellz

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Vodacom

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From: Andrew Mahiga <ama...@gmail.com>

Sender: smart29er...@googlegroups.com

Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2012 23:54:14 -0700 (PDT)

To: <smart29er...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: smart29er...@googlegroups.com

Subject: January Makamba's Visit To Smart29ers 18/09/2012

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[Gloria Mangi]

Thanks for this Dru. Will work on those questions!

Kind Regards,

Gloria S. Mangi

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[Abella Bateyunga]

Andrew the questions are all on point - i do not even see what to do - duh!

I guess what has remain is just to research on the same and start sharing really before we meet January next week.

Khalila, I guess what was really asked is for us to understand such reasoning , but I would not advice you to misst the meeting :-) ...as for presentation Yes, I agree- it is better you leave it for Shubi  - since he will be able to make it in time and whenever time you will be able to come you can continue contributing towards the discussion.

Ok good people, let's dig on research on the questions shared by Andrew and provide various angles of approach the issues raised. 

Let's do this #So excited :-)

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[Shubi Mukolera]

Abella's right, Andrew's questions are on point! Got me thinking....last week when I was in Masasi, Lindi I saw a BBC report on an Institution in Morogoro in which Bush Rats where being trained to defuse landmines as well as helping out on research on TB. Can this be considered a 'technology' in its own right?

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Shubi Mugisha Mukolera

Mobile: +255 713 350 836

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[Lillian Secelela Madeje]

Thanks Shubi for the challenge. I actually heard and saw this Report some time ago about 2 or so years ago but the question you raised is valid.

 

I personally think this is innovative technology at play. The fact that that the Bush rats have helped decrease loss of limbs when working to defuse land mines and the recovery rate of land mines is also high meaning they are on point…….now if we can be innovative and look at other challenges we are facing in our daily communities and apply out of the box solutions we would be on point.

 

Waiting to hear other team members thoughts..

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[Shubi Mukolera]

Its my humble opinion that as much as there efforts to create medical departments/institutions specifically focusing on traditional medicines (herbs, roots, etc) there is a need to do the same with respect to our traditional 'technologies' with the aim making them more efficient. Would go a long way towards creating innovations suitable for our realities on the ground that are much more affordable. 

[saidi mashaka]

Hallow Everyone!

I subscribe to the questions set by Andrew and the follow-up discussion. I have always followed the discussions though i havent been able to attend the meetings.

Let me chip in and share my knowledge and expertise now that an area in question is my field of specialty; In principle you cannot talk of science and technology without making reference to Intellectual Property Rights [IPRs]: This is so because to date almost 98% of the world known technology is found in Patents [the rest is obviously protected by trade secrets], and surprisingly 80% of Patents are not protected in Africa, one reason cited is that we cannot even reverse engineer so there is no need to protect them here because we cannot utilize them. The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) were successful in reverse engineering and leveraging science and technology or I should say, leveraging IPRs thats why we see them strongly and strategically positioned today.

Intellectual Property is a magic formura that our economies have failed to embrace, sister economies in the EAC are strengthening their IPR system and we see non in Tanzania. Good examples should be those of Kenya and Rwanda. Today, while the IP system influences Geo-politics, it’s not even in the economic and developmental policies and programs, I have personally never heard a political leader mention about IPRs in the Tanzania, let alone in the Parliament.

May be we should put an IPR session in one our programs and indeed I can be more than happy to share the knowledge in the series:

With Regards to J. Makamba visit vs its relation to science and technology I have a few comments directly linked to his Political responsibility at the ministry and this is basically related to the Role of Research and Development in the creation of a viable technological base. Technology is the result of R&D, no investment in R&D no progress in Science n Tech, it’s that simple.

Given that Tanzania is nowhere [or at list sits at the bottom] in the OECDs classification of industries based on technology intensity [High Tech, Medium High Tech, Medium Low Tech and Low Tech] I proposed we also consider these issues:

• What is the Ministry’s’ take on the role Intellectual Property Rights in the promotion of innovative and inventive skills in science and tech?
•  What is the Government expenditure on R&D for 2012-2013 and what is the GoT approach on the subject.
•   How does the GoT support SME in the “creative economy”? How SMEs are encourage utilizing various aspects of the IPR system?
•  In what ways does the Tanzania S&T policy embrace IPRs specific aspects [Patents, Trademarks, Utility Models, and Industrial Designs]?
• Technology comes with the negative aspect, typically cyber crime and cyber security related issues, how do we leverage science and technology in absence of cyber laws for example? [We are all aware of Electronic fraud in Banks 7 financial institutions, M-PESA and Mining companies]
•  How do we engineer reforms to promote creation, utilization and protection of IPRs
•  Supporting acquisition of new technologies in agriculture and mineral processing Technology  
• How do we encourage Technology Transfer arrangements from advanced economies through FDIs and ODAs

I firmly believe that rightly inserted into developmental policies and programs such as vision 2025, the IPRs system, has a potential, and in fact, is the only way toward economic growth in Tanzania and eventual poverty alleviation.

I suggest we read the New World Economic Forum, Global Competative report for more state of the art data at http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-report-2012-2013/

I humbly submit.

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Saidi M. Kalunde,
(ll.b Hons., University of Dar es Salaam)
State Attorney,
Directorate of Public Prossecutions HQ
Sukari House 8th Floor
P.O.Box 71069
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
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Email: sai...@gmail.com
           

[Andrew Mahiga]

Saidi,

This is great. I can tell that we have definitely been missing your presence in our meetings every Tuesday! I personally think that intellectual property is something that is greatly undermined in our country. We can look at the recent Apple and Samsung lawsuit as an example of how important intellectual property is around the world. Billions of USD($) were paid out.

We hope that you can make it this Tuesday because these are great points that you have brought up and I believe January will greatly appreciate them as well as the rest of us.

Let's keep sharing folks!

- Andrew

           

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Tel:+255689548484/+255656277358
Blog: www.druyork.com
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Skype: Dru York

LinkedIn: http://tz.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-mahiga/14/4ba/2a

[Shubi Mukolera]

So Saidi's contribution literally educated me and I must say it is only after reading the contribution and doing some quick reading here and there that I realised that IPR are that vital to an economy. So, put in the context of the BBC documentary I mentioned earlier, the Institute in Morogoro has the right to patent their 'technology' (training the rats to defuse land-mines). In that way, they stand to gain from the application of their technology elsewhere.

That's all good, but as I was reading about I came across an argument against IPR which said: "Imagine the time when men lived in caves. One bright guy—let's call him Galt-Magnon—decides to build a log cabin on an open field, near his crops. To be sure, this is a good idea, and others notice it. They naturally imitate Galt-Magnon, and they start building their own cabins. But the first man to invent a house, according to IP advocates, would have a right to prevent others from building houses on their own land, with their own logs, or to charge them a fee if they do build houses. It is plain that the innovator in these examples becomes a partial owner of the tangible property (e.g., land and logs) of others, due not to first occupation and use of that property (for it is already owned), but due to his coming up with an idea. Clearly, this rule flies in the face of the first-user homesteading rule, arbitrarily and groundlessly overriding the very homesteading rule that is at the foundation of all property rights".

So this got me asking what checks and balances there are to IPRs...  

[saidi mashaka]

Comrade Shubi

[THIS IS LONG BUT WORTH READING]

Let me forst respond to your earlier post of Traditional Medicines; The Intellectual Property System, as important as i pointed out in my initial post has a system for the protection of trational industries "traditional medicines" being a component. Its called Protection of Tratitional Knowledge and Expresions of Folkrole. The former covers traditional medicines, traditional knowldge and its associated genetic resources, whilst the later represents traditional artistic industries, such as music, dances, and other works of art.

For knowledge i will share an extract from my paper I presented and published in Japan

"Over the past two decades, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and human health care industries have increased their interest in natural products as sources of new biochemical compounds for drugs, chemical and agro-product development.  Recently, Bio-prospecting of African biological resources by big pharmaceutical companies and research institutions has witnessed an upsurge in accordance with similar searches in the tropical forests of the world. The general poverty, which prevails in most African communities, has facilitated this kind of unfair transaction.  Medicinal plants acquired in Africa depletes the continent of its biodiversity and makes the people eventually poorer while strengthening the economies of the developed nations be selling the finished products at high rates to Africa.

In January 2006, the report, entitled "Out of Africa: Mysteries of Access and Benefit Sharing", was released by the Edmonds Institute and the African Centre for Biosafety, the report listed more  than 30 examples of western medical, horticultural and cosmetic products that it said were "pirated" from Africa. As indicated above the biological resources concerned are for medicinal, agricultural, horticultural and cosmetics uses. In most cases there was no evidence or even information of benefit sharing agreements"

For record statistics in te pharmaceutical industry suggests that 70 of "new drugs" and by new it means not advancement in orginal drugs, come from traditional medicines from China, India and Africa. China and India are doing well on this arena while Africa remains a safe heaven of Bio-piracy.

On the Second post about IPRs in general, my opinion would be we set a day for a presentation and discusion on IPRs, Our movement can better yield results if we have a common understanding of the role and importance of IP in the world today.

Imagine if everyone was allowed to copy everything and sell them, imagine if we were to use the worlds well known marks like cocacola, adidas, KFC, BMW, ADIDAS, NIKE, APPLE, NOKIA, SAMSUNG you name at our pleasure in whatever we want, imagine where there was no reward and incentive for research and development. No one would invest in R&D, we will have no new inventions and innovations, and no new products. Imagine if APPLE, NOKIA, SAMSUNG and other companies in other industries would copy their competitors, i dont think we will have choices in the market. Imagine counterfeit products in the pharmaceutical industry and the danger to life. Imagine how the copyright industry and creative industries employ in the USA. [Actually 18% of the USA export is based of creative economies, it ranks number one ahead of manufacturing, PLEASE GOOGLE "CREATIVE INDUSTRIES"]. Today our artists are poor because of the poor IP system, while music employ millions and give billions of USD in developed Economies. Imagine if this industry was protected and taxed how much will be earned and think of employment. THE LIST OF BENEFITS GOES ON AND ON.

To be protected an invention must be NEW, NOVEL, THERE MUST BE AN INVENTIVE STEP [from existing tech] and MUST BE INDUSTRIALY APLLICABLE, this ensure that ideas and issues generally known can not be protected. Discoveries for example, mathematical fomulas and ways of doing things. Also the IP system has checks and balance interms of time (years) Patents [20], copyright [50], Industrial Designd [5-7], Utility Models [5-7] and the time it falls in the public domain and every one can produce the products, its the reason we have generic drugs, like panadol, and others because they are in public domain. Compulsory licences can also be issued in cases involving PUBLIC INTERESTS.

IF WE CAN COPY THE TECHNOLOGY 20 YEARS AGO WHICH IS FREELY AVAILABLE NOW WE CAN BE THE LEADING ECONOMY IN EAC AND AFRICA PROBABLY. ITS FREE AND AVAILABLE IN PATENT DOCUMENTS.

Issues:

Do we know this fact? Do we have the human resource to do that? do we have the capacity? do we have the program? do we know this is for free? DO WE KNOW EVEN 80% OF MODERN TECH IS NOT PROTECTED IN TANZANIA?

IP is the magic formula, its not and has never been a legal concept, its THE ONLY CONCEPT.

I submit

[Shubi Mukolera]

Another question I think is worth asking is what moves there are (if any) to enable citizens to use ICT as a means of holding government officials to book. Let me elaborate; After Kenya enacted the new constitution, an online government portal was established which enables citizens to keep tract of ministry, local gov't administrations and parastatals' activities and expenses amongst others. 

An African Peer Review Report on Kenya that I read sometime last year stated that this has done a lot to tackle Kenya's endemic corruption, use of excessive force by police and human rights violations. Maybe it could help us.

[Andrew Mahiga]

Something like http://www.ushahidi.com ?

- Andrew

[Catheryn Thomas Massamu]

Saidi,

Definitely worth reading! Thank you for sharing what seems to not only be informative but of great importance especially in the topic at hand. And so I must stress Andrews comment, "we have definitely been missing your presence in our meetings every Tuesday". It'll be great to have you in tomorrow's meeting!

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[joseph ooko Ogana]

The Question is timely and it is thought provoking and it yet challenges our so called, 'country with many newspapers and electronic media outlets compared to its EAC Members.'

I would like to think that we are not serious as a country, not the government but as citizens too, I bet you check what people like sharing and discussing on the social media pages FB in particular, what they post, leave about TWITTER which is serious platform. See most blogs what stories are mostly hitted, check newspaper stalls and vendors what papers do they show you from far away when you are stuck in the traffic?

Coming to ICT we are the laughing stock in the bloc sometimes since we have good policies, good political rhetoric on how ICT can help realize Vision 2025 and yet no strategies for the same. Thanks for few organizations which have decided to run some powerful websites on anti-corruption www.corruptiontracker.or.tz and some blogs which are trying to enlighten Tanzanians like the Hon Zitto's and Makamba's blogs are doing quite well.

Enough to say that unless we show the way, the government wont start from scratch without being challenged by Tanzanians, the New Constitution wont bring to our doorsteps without hardworking.

Nawasilisha!

Akhsante.

On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 5:57 PM, Shubi Mukolera <shubi.m...@gmail.com> wrote:

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Joseph Joshua Ogana

P. O. Box 14145,

Dar es Salaam,

Tanzania.

+255 714 946127
Email: joseph...@yahoo.com | oga...@gmail.com.
skype: joseph.ogana2
Blog: www.josephogana.wordpress.com

"The world wont wait you to change, be the change you want"

[joseph ooko Ogana]

Guys who is presenting LEO/TODAY and on what, wanna do some skimming before I come there if I will have time to do so.

Wasalaam,

Ogana,J.J

On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 5:57 PM, Shubi Mukolera <shubi.m...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Abella Bateyunga]

Hope you have already received the email j, but just incase - Shuby is presenting on a Strong competitive economy.

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'' I am because we are"

[joseph ooko Ogana]

Thanks I got it