As the African Development Bank prepares to convene the Second Ministerial Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation in Africa, I am prompted to ask an unexpected question: “What can Africa learn about STI capacity building from the US Department of Defense (DOD)?” 

The allure of strengthening the financial ties between African investment opportunities and global pension and sovereign wealth funds is understandable.

Sovereign wealth funds currently have more than $6.7 trillion dollars of assets under management, up from slightly more than $3.2 trillion as recently as December 2007. US pension funds had $18.9 trillion of assets under management in 2013, a rise of more than 12% over the previous year and pension fund assets in the 13 largest markets totaled $32 trillion, up 9.5% over 2012.  ​