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In August 2013 Monsanto approached Juma with a proposal to write a series of seven papers in support of genetically modified organisms, according to e-mails obtained through a public records request, per the Boston Globe. Monsanto suggested a headline "Consequences of Rejecting GM crops". In December 2014, Juma published "Global Risks of Rejecting Agricultural Biotechnology" on a website called "Genetic Literacy Project, Science trumps ideology" with the help of a Monsanto marketing firm and failed to disclose his communication with them.

In 2012 Juma was appointed by the African Union to chair its High-Level Panel on Science, Technology and Innovation. The report of the panel will be submitted to the AU in early 2014.

Juma led international experts in outlining ways to apply science and technology to the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals arising from the 2000 UN Millennium Summit. Innovation: Applying Knowledge in Development (Earthscan, 2005), the report of the Task Force on Science, Technology and Innovation of the UN Millennium Project, was released in early 2005 and its recommendations have been adopted by development agencies and governments around the world. The report has become a standard reference against which governments assess their policies and programmes on the role of technological innovation in development.

Juma's research has helped to improve understanding on the role of property rights in conservation under the rubric of "ecological jurisprudence" as outlined in the volume, In Land We Trust (Zed, 1996). His work guided international negotiations on the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as documented in Biodiplomacy (ACTS, 1994). He later became Executive Secretary of the CBD where he advanced the use of scientific knowledge in conservation policy and practice.

In 1988, Professor Juma founded the African Centre for Technology Studies, Africa's first independent policy research institution designed to advance research on technology in development. In 1989 ACTS released a groundbreaking study called "Innovation and Sovereignty" that led to the adoption of the Industrial Property Act in Kenya and the creation of the Kenya Industrial Property Office.

Juma has made significant contributions to understanding the dynamic role of technological innovation in economic transformation in developing countries. He developed the concept of "evolutionary technological change" to explain how socio-economic environments shape the adoption and diffusion of new technologies. This approach was elaborated in his early works such as Long-Run Economics: An Evolutionary Approach to Economic Growth (Pinter, 1987) and The Gene Hunters: Biotechnology and the Scramble for Seeds (Princeton University Press and Zed Books, 1989) and remains central to theoretical and practical work. Juma's contributions to science and technology policy have focused on the role of technological innovation in sustainable development.

Juma grew up on the Kenyan shores of Lake Victoria where he obtained early education as one of the pioneer students of the then Port Victoria Secondary School (now John Osogo SS) from 1968-1971. He first worked as an elementary school teacher before becoming Africa's first science and environment journalist at Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper. Juma later joined the Nairobi-based Environment Liaison Centre International as a founder and editor of trilingual quarterly magazine, Ecoforum. He later received an MSc in Science, Technology and Industrialization and a DPhil in Science and Technology Policy from the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex. He has written widely on science, technology and sustainable development.

Calestous Juma FRS HonFREng (June 9, 1953 – December 15, 2017) was an internationally recognised authority in the application of science and technology to sustainable development worldwide. He was named one of the most influential 100 Africans in 2012, 2013 and 2014 by the New African magazine. He was Professor of the Practice of International Development and Faculty Chair of the Innovation for Economic Development Executive Program at Harvard Kennedy School. Juma was Director of the School's Science, Technology and Globalization Project at Harvard Kennedy School as well as the Agricultural Innovation in Africa Project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His latest book, Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies. was published by Oxford University Press in 2016.