It’s been a recurring refrain: Africa still lags woefully behind the rest of the world in generating new scientific knowledge. As figures collated by the World Bank in 2014 show, the continent – home to around 16% of the world’s population – produces less than 1% of the world’s research output. These are painful admissions to make as the continent prepares to celebrate Africa Day on May 25. But there are several projects and initiatives that offer hope amid all the bad news.

Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, The Honourable, Marie-Claude Bibeau has announced Canada’s pledge of $228.79 million (for fiscal years 2018–2019 through 2022–2023) to the seventh replenishment of the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The world’s first green energy storage demonstrator is now live in the UK and has brought carbon-free fuel, that can be stored or transported for later use, a step closer.

Collaborative project on biophotovoltaics between Professor Phang Siew Moi’s team at the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Malaya and Dr Adrian Fisher and Dr Kamran Yunus at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge wins a Newton Fund 2017 Award.