In 1985, 33 African scientists meet in Trieste, Italy, to formally establish the African Academy of sciences as an honorific institution. The inaugural General Assembly is held in June 1986 in Nairobi, Kenya. First women fellow, Lydia Makhubu, a chemist from sSwatini, elected First issue of the journal Discovery and Innovation published and morphis into the online platforms AAS Open research Whydah: The quarterly newsletter of the academy is launched in1987 and renamed to science *Policy*Africa in 2012.

At the start of the 90s, The AAS has honored more than 100 Fellows as distinguished African scientists. The African Forest Research Network trained postgraduates students and gave grants to help African institutions to buy equipment, fund field research and develop the carrier of scientists.

In 2001 The AAS established The AAS Endowment Fund though a US$5 million donation from the government of Nigeria. The AAS hosted the World Academy of Sciences Reginal Office for sub-Saharan African (TWAS-ROSSA) from 2003 to 2014. During this time, the programme honored over 70 scientists through the TWAS Reginal Prize, the TWAS_ROSSA Young Scientists' Prize, the TWAS-AAS-MIcrosoft Award for young Scientists, TWAS Young Affiliates and Biovision travel grant.

Two South African scientists, Salim S.Abdool Karim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim receive the inaugural Olusegun Obasanjo Prize for their highly acclaimed work on the use of a microbicide, called Tenofovir gel, to prevent HIV infection and genital herpes in women in 2015. The AAS's in partnership with the African Union Development Agency, Wellcome, DFID and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launch the flagship agenda setting and funding platform, AESA. Together with partners, The AAS established the coalition for the African Research and Innovation, a suitable platform to accelerate STI programmes in Africa to achieve outcomes that would help more Africans lead better lives sooner.