Will Africa become the next battlefield or the new economic frontier for the U.S.? It holds many of the mineral resources on which the rapidly emerging global knowledge economy relies, offers vast opportunity for growth through its largely untapped markets and has an enormous emerging entrepreneurial sector. The potential benefits of engaging Africa in development partnerships and investment promise to be substantial.

“In our global economy, progress in even the poorest countries can advance the prosperity and security of people far beyond their borders, including my fellow Americans,” President Barack Obama said at the U.N. Millennium Development Goals Summit in September. The president realizes that economic development and progress lead to food security, better health, greater prosperity, enhanced standards of living and political stabilization which, in a global context, benefit all. Hence, working with developing countries to build modern, knowledge-based, innovative economies is the logical next step. The case of Africa is beyond logic; it is urgent.

When it comes to Africa, it seems that everyone wants to be a “humanitarian.” But when we picture what assistance to Africa entails, we generally see images of hovering helicopters, tossing sacks of grain to desperate masses of starving refugees, endlessly wandering vast, dusty plains. In addition to their disquieting nature, these images demonstrate our failure to develop an effective model for assisting Africa. We have pursued — and continue to pursue — a crippled agenda, a flawed paradigm, indeed a hopeless mess. Sadly, this traditional approach to “helping” Africa appears to perpetuate instability throughout the continent.

Africa has a long history of absorbing outside assistance, seemingly like an unquenchable sponge. But what is really needed for sustainable economic and social growth is the capacity to absorb and utilize innovation. That will require focused research and development, public-private partnerships, collaborative international programs, and technology transfer with concomitant capacity building in human resources and institutional infrastructure. South Africa — and, to a lesser extent, countries such as Egypt, Kenya and Zimbabwe — have invested in building capacity to make that a reality and are beginning to realize benefits. American involvement, however, will accelerate and synergize the process.

There are compelling political reasons for the U.S. to reach out economically. The ongoing unrest in North Africa is already negatively affecting our economy through rising oil prices. Several terrorist organizations already have a toehold in Africa, and their influence will continue to grow if we permit the continent to sink further into economic decline and human despair. That trouble will traverse the Atlantic. Prosperous states are like vibrant healthy bodies, resisting disease and infection; failed states, on the other hand, are like sickly wasted bodies, attracting parasites, such as terrorist organizations, that proliferate as they consume the decaying societal corpus.

Many Americans now send their children to battle terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the near future, will a new generation of American parents and grandparents send their children to fight terrorists in the Congo River Basin?

To avert this, the U.S. must advance innovation in Africa. It is a strategic and economic imperative. The infrastructure, systems and resources that promote innovation will be the foundation for sustainable, knowledge-based economic development in Africa in the 21st century.

However, to transform noble intentions into practical implementation is a challenge. Stultified policy agendas must yield to dynamic strategic planning and coherent program implementation. Additional discussion and more money alone will not create a solution. Instead, partnerships and programs must focus on promoting long-lasting outcomes, prioritizing capacity-building that generates a steady flow of essential innovations.

U.S.-African partnerships in development will accelerate access to innovations in health, agriculture, communications and energy — the foundation for stable African economic advancement.

Health innovations include vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/AIDS and parasites. Agricultural innovations include disease-, pest-, drought-, heat- and salt-resistant plants, as well as crops with increased yield and enhanced nutritional qualities. There are also important crossover health/plant biotechnology innovations, including bananas that produce hepatitis B vaccines, and a remarkable genetically engineered plant, aptly called “Red Detect,” that morphs from green to red when grown in the vicinity of cheap, plastic, TNT-leaking land mines.

Communication innovations include telemedicine systems (medical information transmitted electronically to improve health care via consultative, diagnostic and treatment services), which are vital for Africa. Green energy innovations include algae-based biodiesel production, possibly for regions where seawater, intense sunlight and heat are abundant, such as the Namibian Atlantic coastal regions. By providing the seedbeds from which sustainable economies grow, these types of advanced innovations will drive progress in 21st-century Africa.

Who will be the beneficiaries of American investments toward advancing innovation in Africa? The U.S. and Africa. For Africa, innovation capacity will accelerate appropriate, needed innovations into the marketplace to drive solutions that can be maintained: improving public health, building food security, fostering greater educational opportunities, advancing economic development, generating new markets and spurring even greater indigenous innovation. This is how a stable, knowledge-based economy develops.

An innovative African economy is in the best interests of the U.S., with greater stabilization, decreased risk of failed states, increased markets for U.S. products and services, and opportunities for mutually beneficial partnerships in business, technology and culture. In addition, knowledge economies will be the prime drivers of global development in the 21st century. The U.S. must aggressively assume a leadership role for advancing global innovation. If it fails to do so, other rapidly emerging economic powers, notably China and India, will likely assume prominence.

The situation in Africa is now at a critical stage, as many countries are at a historical turning point in development. It’s time to either move forward or be left behind.

This is not only an African issue; we are all affected. As Dr. Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and father of the Green Revolution, stated, “The destiny of world civilization depends upon providing a decent standard of living for all mankind.” We must therefore stop viewing Africa as a chronic burden and start viewing it as the key partner in development for this century.

That is consistent with the heart of the American experience. President John F. Kennedy most cogently stated that when he advocated for the Alliance for Progress: “Let us once again awaken our American revolution until it guides the struggles of people everywhere — not with the imperialism of force or fear but the rule of courage and freedom and hope for the future of man.”

The American Revolution represents what we are best known for; we can revitalize this for the benefit of Africa. In doing this, we too, as Americans, will reap the benefits.

Stanley P. Kowalski is a professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Law
and director of its International Technology Transfer Institute, which seeks to advance innovation in developing countries by working with them to build human capital and institutional infrastructure.