15 Jun 2017

Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, Dr Alfred Madigele says research and innovation can help unlock potential in the economy and create more vibrancy and the required jobs.  

Officially opening a three-day research and innovation symposium organised by Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) in Palapye on June 13, Dr Madigele said research needed to continuously seek solutions to the challenges encountered today.

He expressed the need to harness available knowledge and technologies for the betterment of people’s lives, adding that research and innovation could help the country fight poverty as well as the transmission of HIV from mother to child.

He said innovation was one of the key drivers of economic growth in developed countries, saying, ‘we need to integrate research and innovation in the way we do things’.

Further, he said the latest Bank of Botswana report for 2016 had highlighted that innovation was a key determinant of trade, enabling businesses to produce more at lower relative costs, achieving economies of scale and introducing cheaper, better quality products.

He said the country’s performance in innovation was weak as reflected by the latest world rankings, urging researchers to work collectively towards raising the standard of innovation in the country.

The symposium was held under the theme Research and Innovation for a Simpler Tomorrow.”

Dr Madigele, who is also MP for Mmathethe/Molapowabojang further said research and innovation should be used to take Batswana out of poverty, making job creation a number one priority and eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV.

He said government encouraged research and innovation by creating a ministry whose mandate was to promote a culture of research and innovation in pursuit of a knowledge-based society.

Minister Madigele said government’s commitment was also reflected in the establishment of institutions such as BIUST, University of Botswana, the Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, BITRI and Botswana Innovation Hub.

“I have no doubt that these institutions will help us drive and realise our national dream of prosperity for all.”

Government, he said was spending a sizeable amount of public funds to educate, train, empower and up-skill the nation for the economy that required specialist skills and abilities.

In addition, he said nations had progressed significantly when they invested in research and innovation.

These nations, he said, had also made life better and prosperity possible for a countless members of their societies.

“I urge researchers and innovators to conceptualise their ideas and execute them into tangible marketable products.”

He said if they could do that then there would be no gap between laboratory-based research and the marketplace of the result of their research.

BIUST Council chairperson, Mr Bernard Bolele said research and innovation were critical tenets in the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology and were also the goals of the government.

He said by hosting the inaugural symposium on research and innovation, BIUST sought to demonstrate its intention to put into practice what it taught, researched and pursued in its classrooms, laboratories, field work and publications.

“We do things because we intend to assist in a meaningful way that our people’s lives be improved, simplified and made more and more bearable by the wonders and promises of science, technology and engineering,” he said. ENDS