Alexander Borda-Rodriguez

H3Africa and the African Life Sciences Ecosystem: Building Sustainable Innovation

Interest in genomics research in African populations is experiencing exponential growth. This enthusiasm stems in part from the recognition that the genomic diversity of African populations is a window of opportunity for innovations in postgenomics medicine, ecology, and evolutionary biology. The recently launched H3Africa initiative, for example, captures the energy and momentum of this interest. This interdisciplinary socio-technical analysis highlights the challenges that have beset previous genomics research activities in Africa, and looking ahead, suggests constructive ways H3Africa and similar large scale science efforts could usefully chart a new era of genomics and life sciences research in Africa that is locally productive and globally competitive. As independent African scholars and social scientists, we propose that any serious global omics science effort, including H3Africa, aiming to build genomics research capacity and capability in Africa, needs to fund the establishment of biobanks and the genomic analyses platforms within Africa. Equally they need to prioritize community engagement and bioinformatics capability and the training of African scientists on these platforms. Historically, the financial, technological, and skills imbalance between Africa and developed countries has created exploitative frameworks of collaboration where African researchers have become merely facilitators of Western funded and conceived research agendas involving offshore expatriation of samples. Not surprisingly, very little funding was allocated to infrastructure and human capital development in the past. Moving forward, capacity building should materialize throughout the entire knowledge co-production trajectory: idea generation (e.g., brainstorming workshops for innovative hypotheses development by African scientists), data generation (e.g., genome sequencing), and high-throughput data analysis and contextualization. Additionally, building skills for political science scholarship that questions the unchecked assumptions of the innovation performers be they funders, scientists, and social scientists, would enable collective innovation that is truly sustainable, ethical, and robust.

Public Health Pharmacogenomics and the Design Principles for Global Public Goods - Moving Genomics to Responsible Innovation

1Research Group on Complex Collaboration, Faculty of Management, McGill University 2Centre of Genomics and Policy, Department of Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada 3Data-Enabled Life Sciences Alliance International (DELSA Global), Seattle, WA, USA 4Development Policy and Practice, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, UK 5The ESRC Centre for Social and Economic Research on Innovation in Genomics (Innogen Centre), Milton Keynes, UK 6Columbia Law School – LL.M. Program, New York, NY, USA 7Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences (FM&HS), The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand 8Discipline of Nutrition, FM&HS, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand 9Nutrigenomics New Zealand, New Zealand 10Laboratory of Pharmacology, Medical School, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece 11Clinical Pharmacology Unit, Academic General Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Alexandroupolis, Greece 12European Society of Pharmacogenomics and Theranostics 13L.C. Campbell Cognitive Neurology Research Unit, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Department of Medicine (Neurology), Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada 14Faculty of Private Law, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa 15Department of Genetics, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa 16Wadhwani Research Center for Biosciences and Bioengineering, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, India

Revisiting the Paris Declaration: Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine as Accelerators for Development Aid and Effectiveness

From novel H1N1 vaccines to improved retroviral treatments for persons with HIV/AIDS, novel health technologies have substantially improved health care in developed countries. Whereas in developing countries, major infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS as well as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) remain prevalent, are the leading causes of death, and stand to benefit from postgenomics diagnostics enabled by data intensive Omics technologies [1-3]. Historically, aid to developing countries has been provided by governments and aid organizations for over 50 years in a number of forms that included the provision of health technologies, medicines, and training for health campaigns (e.g., immunization programs). However, despite decades of aid and the global health funding that keeps flowing, people are still dying. Indeed, little progress has been made towards eradicating poverty and improving healthcare access for the poor. In this editorial analysis, we argue that the benefits of pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine should be considered beyond a narrow focus on clinical medicine and in particular, in strategies of international development aid delivery in order to achieve greater effectiveness of global development aid.

COFFEE CO‐OPERATIVES IN MALAWI: BUILDING RESILIENCE THROUGH INNOVATION

This article focuses on the role played by innovation in the context of coffee co-operatives. It shows how interconnected forms of innovation contribute to co-operative resilience. Data was collected from the largest coffee co-operative Union in Malawi and illustrates how coffee co-operatives have innovated in order to cope with organizational and market constrains. We identify four areas of innovation: sustainable technologies, development of market niches, womens inclusion and business diversification. The combination of these forms of innovation contributes to co-operative resilience in different degrees, the article also analyzes how innovation is influenced and driven by co-operatives values and principles and by partnerships with national and international actors.

Path-Dependent UK Bioenergy

The rise of renewable energy has generated tensions over its means and ends. Civil society groups have been promoting decentralisation of energy production, greater community control over resources and equitable access. Renewable energy has been seen as a special opportunity due its spatially distributed sources, for example, wind, sun, biomass, etc. In response to such proposals, energy decentralisation has been linked with renewable energy sources by some governments and local authorities, especially in Scandinavia. A similar vision also has appeared in many UK policy documents on decarbonisation over the past decade. Together these policies aim to enhance community involvement and GHG savings through renewable energy, including bioenergy. Focusing on the UK government’s innovation priorities, this paper addresses the following questions: How do UK policy incentives shape future bioenergy? How do priorities link innovation, infrastructures and knowledge? Here we argue that UK support measures generally promote bioenergy innovation as input-substitutes to supply centralised infrastructures for current consumption patterns. These priorities arise partly from the UK state’s relatively weak capacity to implement energy innovation, which remains dependent on large private-sector companies. Dominant pathways involve several epistemic assumptions, for example, that cost-effective GHG reductions correspond to inherent efficiencies of large-scale systems; that national economic benefits correspond to large companies selling novel technology or licensing patents abroad; and that mere input-substitution or fossil fuels is politically more reliable.

Challenges for the Application and Development of Omics Health Technologies in Developing Countries

Preclinical Research