Science systems worldwide are grappling to adapt to the consequences of the digital revolution, to the opportunities of the 4th industrial revolution that has been enabled by it, and to the challenges of global sustainability and Agenda2030. The new paradigm of open science has been widely seen as a powerful vehicle for responding to these challenges, and potentially as the future for science in the 21st century. Given the inevitable uncertainty surrounding the hypothesis that open science is indeed the future, the dilemma for Africa is whether national systems should be left to respond in their own ways, or whether the issue is so important that coordinated, collective action is required to generate the energy and impact needed to avoid Africa being left on the wrong side of a major knowledge divide. This report is partly designed to help the Science Granting Councils assess the risks associated with these choices.
