Innovation set to drive Zim economy

23 May, 2021 - 00:05 0 Views
Innovation set to drive Zim economy Prof Amon Murwira

The Sunday News

Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
THE Government has reaffirmed its commitment to continue substituting imports through deliberate economic resuscitation steps that are underpinned by innovation, value addition and industrialisation.

According to the latest trade figures released by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat), the country’s imports in January 2021 were valued at US$46 031 494 compared to US$38  367 580 in January 2020. In an interview, Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development Minister, Professor Amon Murwira said the Centre for Education, Innovation, Research and Development Bill was one of the tools meant to foster innovation for the industrialisation of the country.

“We are fortifying our national science and technology innovation ecosystem through the Centre for Education, Innovation, Research and Development Bill which will soon become an Act. The Bill passed through Senate on Wednesday and it means that it’s now on its way to his Excellency, President Mnangagwa. Its whole purpose is basically to foster innovation for the industrialisation of the country, thereby greatly contributing to import substitution,” said Prof Murwira.

He also noted that in terms of innovation, more has to be done as it was one of the key ways of industrialising the country.

Prof Murwira said all industries around the globe had been developed through innovation and the only difference was whether the innovation was done inside or outside that country.

“The issue is that innovation is the basis for industrialisation, which means large scale production of goods and services based on your innovation. We believe in the direction of President Mnangagwa who is championing the innovation and industrialisation agenda and he is leading from the front. The President is always telling higher and tertiary institutions to fulfil their mandate of innovation for industrialisation so we are looking forward to more exciting things that are on the ground as we go forward.”

Prof Murwira said the Government was also fortifying innovation based on the new Manpower Planning and Development Amendment Act recently signed into law which turned Education 5.0 from policy to a legal requirement. He said the Act meant that all colleges are now under the tertiary education council and no longer under the civil service.

“One of the most important things which is happening with this Act is that it is giving effect to what we call the academia of science. Which means we are putting up infrastructure for eminent scientists to start contributing to the national development agenda,” explained Prof Murwira.

Prof Murwira said it was now a legal requirement for any college or university to have an innovation hub or system and set up an innovation fund. He also noted that tertiary institutions were also making great strides in developing innovations with the first step noticed in the manufacture of sanitisers and PPEs that saved the country from importing them.

“At the same time there are innovations to do with agriculture chemicals that are happening at the University of Zimbabwe which are going very well. If you look at Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) they developed the local authority digital system which has seen the Mutare City Council collection efficiency reaching 90 percent in managing their finances. All this software used to be imported.”

He highlighted that the agricultural chemicals being developed by UZ were going to assist farmers fight off the fall army worm thereby improving their crop yielding. Prof Murwira also the Midlands State University now has a patent for making coal tar, a new road substitute.

“What we are doing right now is to set up the industry for the innovative project being led by MSU and the money has already been approved for that process. There are quite a lot of things which are happening both from a legal framework point of view and from action on the ground,” he said.

Prof Murwira also noted that the campus radios were also an important innovation that provided a platform where complex scientific concepts will be made accessible to the people. The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) granted campus radio licences to four universities and a polytechnic in a move expected to promote student training, research and entertainment in tertiary education institutions.

The institutions are the National University of Science and Technology, Lupane State University, Midlands State University, University of Zimbabwe, and the Harare Polytechnic. The institutions join the Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) which received its licence last year.

In terms of intensifying commitment to ensuring a safe online learning environment, Prof Murwira said they were in the process of delivering 1 200 laptops to colleges and polytechnics in two batches of 600. The minister also commended universities that have developed software for e-learning and were servicing all other tertiary institutions in the country. The Government last year also secured five high tech servers worth millions of dollars to catalyse online learning across the country’s learning institutions.

The servers were given to the University of Zimbabwe, Midlands State University, Harare Institute of Technology, National University of Science of Technology and Great Zimbabwe University which are then servicing other tertiary institutions.

“Our main ambitious is to buy some more servers spares so that we are able to serve all tertiary institutions that might even include private ones because students are Zimbabweans. As Zimbabwe moves to modernise and industrialise, Government has configured higher and tertiary education to be 5.0 compliant,” he said.

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