Countries are being advised to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as to expose traditional agriculture to modern technology, entrepreneurship and innovation, in order to boost production.
[1][2][3] ECOPOST provides a framework for member states wishing to improve or elaborate their own national policies and action plans for science, technology and innovation.
[1] The regional policy advocates the development of a science culture in all sectors of society, including through science popularization, the dissemination of research results in local and international journals, the commercialization of research results, greater technology transfer, intellectual property protection, stronger university–industry ties and the enhancement of traditional knowledge.
The strong economic growth experienced by the subregion in recent years owing to the commodity boom does, of course, make it harder to improve the GERD/GDP ratio, since GDP keeps rising.
By 2010, only Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Senegal had raised public expenditure to 10% of GDP, the target fixed by the Maputo Declaration (2003).
As of 2013, 5% of the population or less had access to internet in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone and Togo.
Apart from obvious factors like underinvestment, this situation has resulted from the relatively low political commitment to science, technology and innovation on the part of individual countries.
In the case of WAEMU countries, this is largely thanks to the Support to Higher Education, Science and Technology Project, funded by a grant from the African Development Bank.
ASTII, launched in 2007 by the African Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), aims to improve research data collection and analysis.
[1][5] While ECOWAS had a stronger presence in the second African Innovation Outlook compared to the first edition, there is still room for more participation and reporting from member states.
Only six of ECOWAS's nineteen member countries - Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Mali, Senegal and Togo - contributed data on research and development activities.
In 2013 and 2014, the organization held subregional workshops for member countries focused on science, technology and innovation metrics as well as drafting research proposals.
Through workshops and new coordinating policies, ECOWAS has worked to tackle challenges limiting the societal impact of research activities in the subregion.