Academic literature on the topic 'Insufficient funds'

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the fund flow – performance relationship for Islamic and conventional equity funds in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use panel regression models to estimate the relationship between fund flows and performance for Islamic and conventional equity funds in Malaysia from 2001 to 2009. The data for each fund include fund flows, assets under management, management expenses, fund age, portfolio turnover, fund risk and return and the number of funds in the fund’s family. The authors also include market returns and year effects. The sample consists of 127 Malaysian equity funds with at least 65 per cent domestic equity holdings comprising 35 Islamic and 92 conventional equity funds. Findings – Islamic fund investors respond to performance in much the same way as conventional fund investors, increasing fund flows to better performing funds and decreasing fund flows to poorer performing funds. However, there is also evidence that Islamic fund investors are relatively less responsive toward poorly performing Islamic funds, suggesting an asymmetry in the expected positive fund flow – performance relationship, but only for Islamic fund investors. When choosing funds based on other fund attributes, Islamic fund investors again exhibit similar behaviour, and like conventional fund investors direct larger percentage fund flows into smaller funds as well as funds with larger past fund flows and higher expense ratios. Research limitations/implications – The authors were only able to access data on annual net fund flows not quarterly or monthly fund inflows and outflows as usual in developed markets and this may obscure some important aspects of investor decision-making. There is also insufficient data for matched-sample techniques, which may better control for fund-specific characteristics. Practical implications – Islamic funds like conventional funds will experience increased fund flows with better performance and vice versa. However, Islamic fund investors appear somewhat less likely to remove monies from poorly performing funds. The authors believe this is because investors either place a premium on the non-return attributes of Shariah-compliant funds and/or wish to avoid search costs in finding another suitable Islamic fund. Apart from this, Islamic and conventional fund investors behave in a similar manner, and the authors believe that this is possible in Malaysia given the size and diversity of its Islamic fund sector. Originality/value – This paper is one of the very few empirical studies concerning the behaviour of Islamic investors, particularly in Malaysia, primarily because of limitations in data availability.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to analyze the responses and the repetitive pattern of financial resilience which emerge within the civil servants’ pension funds (RPPS, in Portuguese) of local governments in Brazil. The analysis extends the traditional financial resilience approach discussing the emergence of vulnerability from the sponsor and RPPS interaction, often stimulated by the lock-in effect from the federal regulation, which constrains the space for transformative responses. Financial resilience is a concern usually applied to governments’ response to crises, but not for pension funds. However, the long-term objective of such funds when juxtaposed to short-term pressures conduce a paradoxical standpoint for fund’s managers absorbing the pressures. The impact of this article to the pension funds and the regulatory field is the proposition that the growing vulnerability of RPPS regimes comes from the insufficient governance belt protecting them, which would be a necessary and applicable remedy to any pension funds reform the country decides to take . It was applied a sequential mixed-method approach, starting by interviews with fund managers, actuarial consultants and representatives of the Ministry of Finance's Pension Secretariat (SPREV), to identify the usual responses to emerging financial pressures which affect the funds’ financial performance. Secondly, four from the identified typical responses were selected and analyzed through financial and accounting data to detect the response for about 1,8 thousand funds from 2014 to 2016. Based on the frequency of the adopted responses by each fund, it was proposed a recurrent financial resilience pattern, and how the managers’ responses vary according to the vulnerability provoked by the City Hall’s decisions. It was observed that the City Halls accommodate budgetary pressures failing to transfer or downsizing the contributions to the fund, increasing the fund’s vulnerability. The managers consequently respond subjoining the reserves to pay pensioners, reinforcing the fund’s vulnerability. Such response is a weak resilience pattern, which reinforces the funds’ vulnerability due to governance gaps and the lock-in effect proposed by Pike, Dawley & Tomaney (2010), which constrains the local agents’ capacity to perceive and find solutions more transformative and actives looking for financial sustainability.

The objective of this paper is to assess whether Australian multi-sector managed funds are misclassified, and then, having found this to be the case, determine if this misclassification has any impact on fund performance. We adopt a strong form of returns based style analysis to investigate a monthly sample of Australian multi-sector funds over the five-year sample period 2003:04-2008:03. The evidence provided demonstrates that insufficient attention has been paid as to whether fund managers are able to keep within their tactical asset allocation ranges and presents that misclassification exist for Australian multi-sector managed funds but that the effect on fund performance is not significant. The paper adds to the literature by demonstrating that no association exists between misclassification and fund performance.

This paper identifies key features of the Thai mutual fund industry and analyzes determinants of those characteristics using unique survey data from 45% of fund managers registered in Thailand in 2012. The Thai mutual fund industry has some unique characteristics. It has experienced rapid growth and is dominated by bank-related funds that are mostly fixed income funds. Equity allocation of the fund industry and our sample funds are below optimal allocation benchmarks. However, country-level allocation is close to optimal, suggesting that Thai investors who invest in equity prefer to do so directly rather than through equity mutual funds. Fund managers perceive that too much regulation, investors’ preference for deposits and insufficient liquidity limit growth in their equity investments. Managers in our survey indicate that investors do not consider expense ratio and management fee important in determining mutual fund investments. This is contrary to general investment recommendations. Thai bank-related fund managers believe that investors place more importance to brand reputation than performance, whereas foreign fund managers view performance as more important. Thai bank fund managers are more concerned about local interest rates than Thai non-bank and foreign fund managers.

Based on the principal-agent theory and the financial management theory, this study analyzes the impact of fund shareholding on corporate insufficient R&D input, and explores the action mechanism of fund shareholding on corporate innovation activities. The results show that fund shareholding is helpful to inhibit the insufficient R&D input. Moreover, this inhibiting effect is mainly reflected in the case of higher risk of financial failure. The further analyses show that the higher level of marketization strengthens the inhibiting effect of fund shareholding on insufficient R&D input. Finally, it is suggested that fund companies should be encouraged to hold shares of listed companies, and the proposal power of fund companies in the shareholders’ meeting should be appropriately enhanced. And it is suggested that the regulators continue to promote the development of securities investment funds, and guide fund shareholding to play an active role in external governance. Also, it is suggested that the regulators promote the process of regional marketization, to strengthen the positive effect of fund shareholding on innovation activities.

Insufficient funding forces universities to search for innovative models of additional financing. The multichannel financing of education and science, based on combination of budgetary and extrabudgetary funding, becomes dominant position. The special place among extrabudgetary funding occupies the establishment of specific fund for national, meaningful projects financing (endowment). Endowment funds activity is supported by the first point of Bologna declaration, that proclaims higher education institutions the establishments that bear all responsibility for the future of the state, and, consequently, such, that must be apt neither to political, nor economic, nor social, nor other influences. World practice of endowments, the legislative framework of endowments, universities advantages due to endowment establishment, factors that confirm actuality of creation of such funds are analyzed in the article.

abstract: 近些年来，我国城市化进程不断加快，到2020年我国常住人口城镇化率将达到60%左右，户籍人口城镇化率将会达到45%左右。伴随着我国城市化进程的高速推进以及经济水平的不断提高，公共物品及服务的需求程度加大，政府单独出资建设公共项目会导致资金不足、经营管理效率低下等问题。与此同时，我国当前不同层级地方政府的政府性债务都达到了一个非常高的水平，截至2017年末，中国地方政府债务16.47万亿元，债务率（债务余额/综合财力）为76.5%，其中地方负有偿还责任的债务约12.9万亿，地方政府性债务的控制和转化成为经济新常态下重要特征之一。在地方债务压力较大的情况下，PPP将替代土地财政和地方政府融资，为我国新型城镇化建设提供可持续的资金支持，PPP模式成为当前城市建设领域融资的重要选项。 据此，本文基于实证研究方法探讨在债务约束的背景下，在地方政府债务约束下，PPP模式的引入，对城市规划中建设用地面积、人口规划规模与容量、建设用地属性等的城市规划变量的影响；与此同时，考虑到地方政府的政策很大程度上受到是由地方官员，特别是受到作为地方政府党政“一把手”的市委书记和市长的晋升压力和激励的影响，讨论市委书记/市长的晋升压力和激励对PPP模式引入效果的影响。研究发现，在地方政府债务约束下，PPP模式的引入，显著增加城市规划中建设用地面积、人口规划规模与容量、建设用地属性等的城市规划变量；同时，地方政府官员存在利用PPP放大城市建设和规划规模的行为，反映了PPP项目在引入和使用的过程中很大程度上受政府官员的激励的影响。
Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2019

AbstractDeveloping innovative and marketable products and services and maintaining innovation capacity are basic prerequisites for a company’s economic success and present implicit challenges in the adaptation to twenty-first-century needs. These success factors are put at risk by silo mentalities and by insufficiently pronounced cross-departmental knowledge transfers. The GASAG Group as a typical organizational layout of medium-sized enterprises in Germany has been and still is confronted with these challenges as well. In order to face them, the GASAG Group decided to work on company culture as well as to develop an open and innovative mindset, prompting it to join the ICU (ICU stands for ‘Internal Crowdsourcing in Enterprises’ and is a joint project funded by the Federal Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) for a period of 3 years, from June 2017 to May 2020, under the funding measure ‘Work in the Digitalised World’ and supervised by the project management organization Karlsruhe. The project goal was the development of an employee-friendly cross-industry reference model for Internal Crowdsourcing.). Research Project in 2017. The aim of this chapter is to describe the ICU approach from the practical, company perspective of the GASAG Group and to map out identified success factors as well as provide general recommendations for the implementation of Internal Crowdsourcing in a business environment.

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) in the state of Gujarat, India looks after the basic needs of its four million citizens. AMC offers primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare services at subsidized rates. The load on AMC tertiary healthcare hospitals has been increasing rapidly, stretching the hospital resources beyond limits. Insufficient resources at these hospitals call for increased allocation of AMC funds to provide a satisfactory level of service. However, AMC is unable to allocate a larger share of its finances to the health sector owing to similar demand from other sectors. AMC authorities are therefore concerned about their ability to offer quality healthcare services at subsidized rates. In this paper, we describe a few e-Gov. applications to address and resolve the issues related to costs, revenues, subsidy, and the quality of services, so that AMC can meet its social obligations in the health sector satisfactorily. Some of our recommendations have been already implemented, while others are under consideration.

Globalization, automation, the process of reducing carbon emissions and the development of digital technology have a profound and immediate impact on the industrial sectors, jobs, profitable businesses and the way the economy and society operate and evolve. The digitization process has acquired multiple characteristics, becoming not only imperative but also universal and imminent for innovation and progress. However, Romania ranks 26th out of the 28 EU member states in the Digital Economy and Society Index for 2020. Connectivity has improved, but the available infrastructure is still insufficient of widespread to meet the rapidly growing needs in this area. In order to improve the situation, the EU has decided to redirect the funds available to support the digitalisation of its economies and societies by setting up a new funding program, called Digital Europe, for the period 2021-2027. Therefore, in the next financial period, the Romanian state has the premises for the increasing of digitalization by accessing and using specially dedicated funds. This scientific research aims to identify areas that require technological improvements, incorporating both public institutions and private entities. Following the obtained results, untapped opportunities for digitization will be analysed and proposals will be made for the extension of the technological sphere in Romania. The main hypothesis highlights the sustainability of the economy generated by the modernization of public services and the versatility of business. The present research can provide support for reforming public services and industrial sectors and is useful in supporting the adoption of legislative measures to digitally transform a state that has the necessary know-how, qualified human resources and wide availability of high and very high speed fixed broadband networks (especially in urban areas).

In developing countries, insufficient internal sources cause the increase of need on external sources. These countries in order to maintain their economic growth apply for external debt to cover the gap of foreign currency and savings. After the collapse of Soviet Union, Kyrgyzstan began to use external funds. It is very important to use these sources in accurate areas and efficiently. Most empirical studies indicate a negative correlation between foreign debt and economic growth, especially in those countries whose foreign debts are relatively high. This work examines the correlation between foreign debt and economic growth in Kyrgyz economy. Toward this objective, it uses the economic indicators of Kyrgyzstan between 1993 and 2015. The stationarity of time series data used in this study was tested by the ADF test. Than a least-squares regression analysis is performed. According to the findings of study, foreign debt in Kyrgyzstan have a negative impact on economic growth. According to results foreign debt should be reduced in order to increase the level of economic growth in Kyrgyzstan.

Private pension system includes various measures met to continue existing living standards without any restrictions in old age, i.e. after the end of employment. High life expectancy, low birth rate, and institutional deficiencies in societies are major drivers for private pension. To understand seriousness of the topic mostly state pension claims are considered as being insufficient in old age. That’s why, necessity of private pension products results. In the first part, theoretical approaches to the explanation of savings behavior of people are described. In the second part of the study, the situation concerning precautions taken in Turkey is examined. In the following part, the retirement arrangements in Germany are depicted for comparison. The financial situation of elderly people in both countries is analyzed. Financial sector is the key beneficiary of developments in both countries. Governmental regulations concerning retirement system play crucial role to achieve high level of prosperity in the national economy of many developed countries. It is also seen in the study that industrialized nations are characterized by considerable private pension funds. Finally; some conclusions are drawn from the analyses performed in the study. .

The paper analyzes some aspects of Ukrainian pension system formation. All its three levels taken as a whole are a real source for the formation of domestic investment resources and implementation of their potential through financial market instruments. At the present stage relationship of these two institutes is pronounced in the frameworks of non-state pension funds. Implementation of the accumulative level of pension system has only to accelerate processes at work. Investigation is focused on the problems of integrating pension system investment resource into financial market infrastructure. It is noted that in the current conditions infrastructure of domestic financial market is being formed. Its instruments are developed and are functioning irregularly. However, there exist general problems that require their solution. They are related to insufficient operational capacity and efficiency of financial market regulating mechanism and other factors. Analysis of the quality of implementation of financial market basic macroeconomic function associated with redistribution of pension savings allowed us to make conclusion on the incompatibility of the achieved level of its development with the current needs adjusted for pension reform. Proposals for improvement of the concept of pension system and financial market along the lines of their harmonization and enhancement of the functioning efficiency in the context of social-economic development of Ukraine are worked out.

An important feature of many rural markets is the over-supply of labour. An insufficient number of jobs in rural areas is usually associated with the shortage of capital, companies, consumers and skilled workers, i.e. limited impact of the agglomeration effect. Additionally, in regions with structural changes in agriculture, the phenomenon of increased or hidden unemployment is visible. One of the important objectives of labour market policy in Poland was a promotion of employment, especially in peripheral, poor and agricultural territories. Along with the accession of Poland to the EU, both agricultural and cohesion policy instruments supported by the structural funds have also been aimed at resolving the problems of rural labour markets. They concerned mainly the diversification of agricultural activities, support of entrepreneurship, as well as development of knowledge and skills. The paper considers the barriers and challenges in increasing employment in rural Poland. In particular, the changes on local rural labour markets and the influence of relevant policy tools thereon have been studied. The study is based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the public statistics and information on the implementation of selected EU CAP and Cohesion Policy instruments in Poland from the period 2007-2014 and the literature of the subject. The study showed that, despite the favourable economic situation and the effects of projects aimed at creating and maintaining non-agricultural jobs in rural areas supported by the EU founds, the rural employment rate and the number of people employed in agriculture did not increase significantly. In this context, the paper provides the explanation of limited improvements in terms of rural employment and policy offers recommendations in this area.

<p>In the Scandinavian countries it is common practice for all surfaces of civil structures to be inspected at least every 5-6 years. However, due to insufficient funds and a highly competitive market, not all surfaces are inspected at a hand-near distance. Most often, hands-on inspections are performed by foot, using a lift, by boat or by rope access, typically resulting in an extensive time consumption for large structures. These methods have not changed much over the last decades despite the technical development.<p>Since 2012, COWI has been using Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAVs) for a large number of inspection projects ranging from the simplest jobs such as documenting and calculating volumes of sand piles to complex tasks of, for example, multispectral imaging for environmental analysis.<p>As a natural development, this service evolved and in collaboration with COWIs bridge inspectors a number of trials with UAV inspection on Danish bridges were performed. The first trials were performed to establish a common understanding between bridge inspectors and drone pilots. The bridge inspectors quickly realized the challenge of locating each observation by video due to the comprehensive size of the structure and the many identical spans. Therefore, COWI developed a new tool "COWI Virtual Inspection" (CVI), where a 3D model can be created based on the images from the UAV inspection and on top of this surface model, the images are applied. The new CVI tool has made it easy to locate each visual damage.<p>This has resulted in a new approach for principal inspection of large bridges and will for large structures reduce the hours spent significantly as well as the amount of traffic interruption.<p>In the future, structures can automatically be screened by UAVs, where image recognition software will be able to point out relevant areas, where a hand-near inspection is needed.

Развитие научно-образовательной сферы в передовых странах мира за период с 1970 по 2020 годы характеризуется усилением международной конкуренции. В статье дан анализ территориальных особенностей и тенденций инвестирования в научно-образовательную сферу, динамики численности исследователей с учеными степенями и их подготовки по регионам Сибири и Дальнего Востока России. В регионах Сибири и Дальнего Востока в трансформации научно-образовательной сферы после 1991 года наметились негативные тенденции. В развитых странах мира в отличие от России, объемы инвестиций в научную сферу постоянно увеличиваются. Распределение фонда оплаты труда на научные исследования и разработки по субъектам Уральского, Сибирского и Дальневосточного федеральных округов характеризуется существенной территориальной дифференциацией и в большинстве субъектов оплата труда исследователей ниже среднего российского уровня. Большинство субъектов Уральского, Сибирского и Дальневосточного федеральных округов имеют недостаточное финансирование по текущим затратам на научные исследования и разработки. The development of the scientific and educational sphere in the advanced countries of the world for the period from 1970 to 2020 is characterized by increased international competition. The article analyzes the territorial features and trends of investment in the scientific and educational sphere, the dynamics of the number of researchers with academic degrees and their training in the regions of Siberia and the Russian Far East. In the regions of Siberia and the Far East, there were negative trends in the transformation of the scientific and educational sphere after 1991. In the developed countries of the world, in contrast to Russia, the volume of investment in the scientific sphere is constantly increasing. The distribution of the remuneration fund for research and development in the subjects of the Ural, Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts is characterized by significant territorial differentiation and in most subjects the remuneration of researchers is below the average Russian level. Most of the subjects of the Ural, Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts have insufficient funding for current research and development costs.

This study responded to one key research question: What are the accountability relationships between the actors in implementing the 3Rs curriculum reform? A qualitative research approach informed the study, using key informant interviews, focus group discussion and document review. The data were analysed using thematic and content analysis. The study established that the key actors in implementing the 3Rs curriculum are the government institutions and the development partners. These actors provide teaching, learning materials and support in the provision of in-service teacher training. Yet, the pupils’ and teachers’ materials prepared by the donor programmes were never authorised by the Commissioner for Education. The study also found that the implementation of the 3Rs was very uneven across the country, with some regions receiving support from both the government and donors, and others receiving support from the government only. Consequently, schools in areas that were exposed to more than one type of support benefited from various teaching and learning materials, which led to confusion regarding when to use them. Moreover, the initiatives by several donors exclusively focus on public schools, which use Kiswahili as the medium of instruction and hence, there existed inequality across the various types of schools. Furthermore, the funds for implementing the reform were provided by both the development partners and the government. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE)—Literacy and Numeracy Education Support (LANES) Program— provided a large proportion of the funds. However, the funds remained insufficient to meet the training needs. As a result, the training was provided for only few days and to a few teachers. Consequently, the sustainability of the reform, in the absence of donor funding, remains largely questionable.

This report maps the African landscape of Open Science – with a focus on Open Data as a sub-set of Open Science. Data to inform the landscape study were collected through a variety of methods, including surveys, desk research, engagement with a community of practice, networking with stakeholders, participation in conferences, case study presentations, and workshops hosted. Although the majority of African countries (35 of 54) demonstrates commitment to science through its investment in research and development (R&D), academies of science, ministries of science and technology, policies, recognition of research, and participation in the Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI), the following countries demonstrate the highest commitment and political willingness to invest in science: Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. In addition to existing policies in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), the following countries have made progress towards Open Data policies: Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, South Africa and Uganda. Only two African countries (Kenya and South Africa) at this stage contribute 0.8% of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to R&D (Research and Development), which is the closest to the AU’s (African Union’s) suggested 1%. Countries such as Lesotho and Madagascar ranked as 0%, while the R&D expenditure for 24 African countries is unknown. In addition to this, science globally has become fully dependent on stable ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) infrastructure, which includes connectivity/bandwidth, high performance computing facilities and data services. This is especially applicable since countries globally are finding themselves in the midst of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), which is not only “about” data, but which “is” data. According to an article1 by Alan Marcus (2015) (Senior Director, Head of Information Technology and Telecommunications Industries, World Economic Forum), “At its core, data represents a post-industrial opportunity. Its uses have unprecedented complexity, velocity and global reach. As digital communications become ubiquitous, data will rule in a world where nearly everyone and everything is connected in real time. That will require a highly reliable, secure and available infrastructure at its core, and innovation at the edge.” Every industry is affected as part of this revolution – also science. An important component of the digital transformation is “trust” – people must be able to trust that governments and all other industries (including the science sector), adequately handle and protect their data. This requires accountability on a global level, and digital industries must embrace the change and go for a higher standard of protection. “This will reassure consumers and citizens, benefitting the whole digital economy”, says Marcus. A stable and secure information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure – currently provided by the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) – is key to advance collaboration in science. The AfricaConnect2 project (AfricaConnect (2012–2014) and AfricaConnect2 (2016–2018)) through establishing connectivity between National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), is planning to roll out AfricaConnect3 by the end of 2019. The concern however is that selected African governments (with the exception of a few countries such as South Africa, Mozambique, Ethiopia and others) have low awareness of the impact the Internet has today on all societal levels, how much ICT (and the 4th Industrial Revolution) have affected research, and the added value an NREN can bring to higher education and research in addressing the respective needs, which is far more complex than simply providing connectivity. Apart from more commitment and investment in R&D, African governments – to become and remain part of the 4th Industrial Revolution – have no option other than to acknowledge and commit to the role NRENs play in advancing science towards addressing the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals). For successful collaboration and direction, it is fundamental that policies within one country are aligned with one another. Alignment on continental level is crucial for the future Pan-African African Open Science Platform to be successful. Both the HIPSSA ((Harmonization of ICT Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa)3 project and WATRA (the West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly)4, have made progress towards the regulation of the telecom sector, and in particular of bottlenecks which curb the development of competition among ISPs. A study under HIPSSA identified potential bottlenecks in access at an affordable price to the international capacity of submarine cables and suggested means and tools used by regulators to remedy them. Work on the recommended measures and making them operational continues in collaboration with WATRA. In addition to sufficient bandwidth and connectivity, high-performance computing facilities and services in support of data sharing are also required. The South African National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System5 (NICIS) has made great progress in planning and setting up a cyberinfrastructure ecosystem in support of collaborative science and data sharing. The regional Southern African Development Community6 (SADC) Cyber-infrastructure Framework provides a valuable roadmap towards high-speed Internet, developing human capacity and skills in ICT technologies, high- performance computing and more. The following countries have been identified as having high-performance computing facilities, some as a result of the Square Kilometre Array7 (SKA) partnership: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Tunisia, and Zambia. More and more NRENs – especially the Level 6 NRENs 8 (Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, and recently Zambia) – are exploring offering additional services; also in support of data sharing and transfer. The following NRENs already allow for running data-intensive applications and sharing of high-end computing assets, bio-modelling and computation on high-performance/ supercomputers: KENET (Kenya), TENET (South Africa), RENU (Uganda), ZAMREN (Zambia), EUN (Egypt) and ARN (Algeria). Fifteen higher education training institutions from eight African countries (Botswana, Benin, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, and Tanzania) have been identified as offering formal courses on data science. In addition to formal degrees, a number of international short courses have been developed and free international online courses are also available as an option to build capacity and integrate as part of curricula. The small number of higher education or research intensive institutions offering data science is however insufficient, and there is a desperate need for more training in data science. The CODATA-RDA Schools of Research Data Science aim at addressing the continental need for foundational data skills across all disciplines, along with training conducted by The Carpentries 9 programme (specifically Data Carpentry 10 ). Thus far, CODATA-RDA schools in collaboration with AOSP, integrating content from Data Carpentry, were presented in Rwanda (in 2018), and during17-29 June 2019, in Ethiopia. Awareness regarding Open Science (including Open Data) is evident through the 12 Open Science-related Open Access/Open Data/Open Science declarations and agreements endorsed or signed by African governments; 200 Open Access journals from Africa registered on the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ); 174 Open Access institutional research repositories registered on openDOAR (Directory of Open Access Repositories); 33 Open Access/Open Science policies registered on ROARMAP (Registry of Open Access Repository Mandates and Policies); 24 data repositories registered with the Registry of Data Repositories (re3data.org) (although the pilot project identified 66 research data repositories); and one data repository assigned the CoreTrustSeal. Although this is a start, far more needs to be done to align African data curation and research practices with global standards. Funding to conduct research remains a challenge. African researchers mostly fund their own research, and there are little incentives for them to make their research and accompanying data sets openly accessible. Funding and peer recognition, along with an enabling research environment conducive for research, are regarded as major incentives. The landscape report concludes with a number of concerns towards sharing research data openly, as well as challenges in terms of Open Data policy, ICT infrastructure supportive of data sharing, capacity building, lack of skills, and the need for incentives. Although great progress has been made in terms of Open Science and Open Data practices, more awareness needs to be created and further advocacy efforts are required for buy-in from African governments. A federated African Open Science Platform (AOSP) will not only encourage more collaboration among researchers in addressing the SDGs, but it will also benefit the many stakeholders identified as part of the pilot phase. The time is now, for governments in Africa, to acknowledge the important role of science in general, but specifically Open Science and Open Data, through developing and aligning the relevant policies, investing in an ICT infrastructure conducive for data sharing through committing funding to making NRENs financially sustainable, incentivising open research practices by scientists, and creating opportunities for more scientists and stakeholders across all disciplines to be trained in data management.