Mr. Mike Hughes, Secretary

Mike Hughes is a Chartered Engineer with over 30 years experience in the Power Industry, Telecommunications, and more recently in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy and Strategy. His experience spans both Africa and UK. In Zambia he was head of telecommunications and electro-technical for the power company. In the UK Programme and Business manager for the National Grid Company which included the build of a National Fibre Optic Network utilising the power grid as the backbone carrier with over 4,500 kms of optical fibre built on overhead high voltage lines. He was appointed as Science, Technology and Innovation Advisor to the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology, and Research from 2004-2006, Ministry in the President's Office in Charge of Science, Technology and Information Communication Technologies from 2006-2009, and Ministry of Education since August 2009. His key role is to develop National Policy and Strategy for the development of Science, Technology and Innovation for sustainable development and economic growth. He has been author or co-author on several papers relating to Science, Technology and Innovation, notably: “Africa in the Global Knowledge Economy”, Going for Growth, The Smith Institute and recently: “Science-based health innovation in Rwanda: unlocking the potential of a late bloomer”, BioMed Central, and “Designing an Africa-EU research and innovation collaboration platform on climate change”, CAAST-Net Plus consortium.