The science, technology, innovation and African foresight issue

1 July 2011

It's July already! The progress of the year has accelerated faster than the super-sonic aircrafts we've heard about over recent weeks. The rapid passing of the weeks has also brought me to the end of my short-term contract with Foresight For Development. The science, technology, innovation and African foresight issue is the last of my contributions to FFD. It's an issue packed with lots of interesting information: Bibliozone does a sterling job of trying to find African foresight content on science and technology (not easy); Tessa Finlev interviews Katindi Sivi Njonjo for Futurist Profile; and Videophile is full of great videos, including my personal favourite, 'Can I be your friend?' from Two Boys Opera. Do visit, too, our feature called Future Frames, and have a look at 20:20 Vision because July marks the thirtieth anniversary of the announcement of the discovery of Aids. For those of us living on the continent, it is difficult to imagine any community or family unaffected by Aids. The disease exploded into our worlds and many of us still struggle to make sense of the lives of loved ones cut short. Aids2031, a consortium of partners, is working towards better management of the disease and its consequences by 2031.

Turning from content on the website to the FFD team, it is time for me to say one last goodbye to the FFD team, and wish them all the best going forward into the next phase of FFD's evolution, I would like to single out for special thanks Judith in Kenya, Jakkie and Leonie in South Africa, and Ansuman in India. It is their efforts behind the scenes, as well as the ongoing support of my predecessor, Nirvashnee Seetal, that brought the website to life over the past few months. Team FFD, take a bow: you did a great job!

Bye,

caj

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