18 Aug 2014

Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH), in collaboration with Southern African innovation Support (SAiS) programme, has launched the National Innovation Award (NIA).

BIH chief executive officer, Mr Alan Boshwaen, said at the NIA award launch on August 14 that their vision and dream as BIH, was to see Botswana becoming a leading hub and destination for innovation in Africa.

“We would like to set the pace to the leading interconnection point and offer a special place and platform for people like yourselves who also share this vision, so that we can create new wealth and develop new solutions that will improve our national economy,” he said.

The role of BIH, Mr Boshwaen said, was to create new networking advocacy, capacity building activities, which he said were crucial for building the national innovation system “as they all support innovation and capacity building. And we feel that this is very necessary although it’s a relatively new concept. We should play this role.”

He added that one of BIH’s major projects, in addition to the networking capacity building initiatives, was the development of a superior and world class science and technology park in Gaborone; with the requisite buildings and other infrastructure near the international airport.

The purpose of the NIA, Mr Boshwaen said was to formally thank and acknowledge those who submitted the entries for the NIA competitions, which were specific to innovations within the clean technology and biotechnology.

Although a new concept, he said the NIA competition was an important showcase of the national capacity for innovation and creativity.

“I think when we speak about the concept of innovation, really we should reflect that it is within our power to identify the most relevant innovations to Botswana. But, if they are relevant to Botswana, you can bet surely that they will be relevant to the Southern Africna region, to Africa and probably to the world,” he added.

BIH Cluster Development director, Dr Budzanani Tacheba said the NIA was meant to strengthen and articulate innovations in the clean and biotechnology areas.

Through the NIA competitions, he said they wanted to encourage communities to look into their own systems of innovation and use resources at their disposal to come up with potential solutions to address the day to day challenges within the society.

“Underscoring the development of the award is the primary objective of commercialisation and employment creation,” he added.

The SAiS programme, on the other hand, is a major BIH support plan that promotes collaboration within the innovation systems of African countries in order to provide greater impact on economic and social development.

Judging of the NIA competitions, Dr Tacheba said, was based on working models, prototypes and artefacts submitted under the overarching themes of biotechnology and clean technology.

Thus, he said the NIA would not only serve to uncover viable innovations in biotechnology and clean technology, but would also act as a national catalyst to continue to unearth technological innovations in other sectors.

Deserving winners and game changers in Botswana’s technology arena were recognised at the launch. Ends