EDUCATION | RESEARCH | INNOVATIONS

KAMPALA - The research funding by the Government is fuelling innovations at Makerere University, vice-chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe has said.

Nawangwe said the institution has the best facilities to drive innovations some of which he said have already started bearing fruit.

He said the Government has been supportive towards innovations noting that public institutions have already been empowered to accommodate informal innovators.

“We are creating more space for research and innovation development. Using the Government fund for research, Makerere University is developing the innovation hub to increase access,” Nawangwe added.

Nawangwe made the remarks during the National Science Week Wednesday, November 9, 2022, at the Kololo Ceremonial Grounds in Kampala.

In 2019, the Government committed a special Research and Innovation Fund (RIF) to Makerere University to the tune of 30 billion shillings per year to support the implementation of high-impact research and innovations.

The objective of the fund is to increase local generation of translatable research and scalable innovations that address key gaps required to drive Uganda’s development agenda. The announcement of this grant was timely because funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency-SIDA which started in 2000 was ending in 2020.

Nawangwe also noted that the education sector should introduce mindset training to guide young innovators and ensure that they have self-belief.

He said the idea started in Korea and the country is the 11th biggest economy in the world.

“We should think of having mindset change as a topic taught in classes. It is one way to inspire more innovations,” he said.