09 Jul 2014

Botswana has been commended for successfully building a strong foundation by always focusing on ensuring that the people remain first and making significant strides in mapping the landscape of science, technology and innovation (STI) in order to strengthen national frameworks.

This was said by Prof Nelson Torto at the 12th annual Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) conference on July 8. He said Botswana is now able to take sharper decisions, reform and upgrade national science systems and build capacity to monitor and evaluate performance.

He added that science, engineering, technology and innovation (SETI) hold key answers to the new and complex challenges that governments are grappling with.

“Over the past 60 years, both developed and developing countries have recognized this fact by increasing the number of SETI government bodies, establishing new SETI legal frameworks and implementing a diverse set of new SETI policy instruments,” he said.

He added that this has driven investment in scientific research, technological development and innovation, led to an increase in the number of scientists and engineers and fostered exponential growth in the number of new scientific articles and patents worldwide.  

Botswana, for example, has invested in two new public universities, one focused on science and engineering and the other on agriculture and natural resources. These are coupled with a number of new private universities, all of which have diversified the tertiary education space in Botswana.

Prof Torto said building a sound higher education system has now emerged as a national priority if Botswana is to develop and compete in the highly competitive global, social and economic environment.

However, he cautioned that even though financing research and innovation is an expensive enterprise, it is very important to invest in research and innovation so as to build an inclusive and diverse knowledge society and advance sustainable socio-economic development. 

“The government of Botswana must be commended for making strong commitments in the area of science and technology. The Botswana parliament has already approved the National Innovation Fund which will provide seed and early stage funding for technology based start-ups and ventures as well as established companies with viable innovation concepts,” said Prof Torto.

SARIMA offers the SADC region an opportunity to out-scale activities and ensure that there is wide participation and growth in research and innovation sectors.

In the long run, the resultant growth in individual countries would result in a stronger economic block.

The objectives of the conference were to develop the discipline of research and innovation management, including professional development, promotion of best practice, to foster and coordinate activities related to research and innovation management at local, national, regional and international levels.

.The other objectives include creating a climate at both national and institutional level which is conducive to research and innovation and establishing mutually beneficial links with other organizations with similar activities and objectives. ENDS