Experts call for more research and innovation funding

__________________

Science experts say there is a need to increase research and innovation funding if Uganda is to rank higher in the Global Innovation Index (GII), an annual ranking that places countries according to their capacity for and success in innovation.

Uganda ranks 121st among the 133 economies featured in the GII 2024 and 18th out of the 27 Sub-Saharan African countries.

Within East Africa, Kenya (96th), Rwanda (104th) and Tanzania (120th) are placed above Uganda.

Some of the many indicators considered are scientific publications, venture capital, international patent filings, safe sanitation, connectivity, robots, electric vehicles, research and development investments, as well as labour productivity.

Scientists argue that nations that rank high in the index have invested more resources into innovation and research.

“How much does Uganda put in research and development, which are critical areas of innovation?" posed Prof. Samson Rwahwire of Busitema University during the first GII Symposium held in Kampala on Wednesday (May 15).

"Uganda needs to be intentional, otherwise we shall not develop if more money is not invested in research."

During the reading of the current national budget, finance minister Matia Kasaija said the government had earmarked science, technology and innovation as "a key catalyst for the qualitative leap to achieve tenfold growth of our economy".

For instance, a total of sh32.5b was allocated for the completion of the Kiira Motors plant in Jinja as well as for working capital.

At the time, the facility had manufactured 39 buses: 27 electric and 12 low-emission diesel.

It was revealed that the company had received orders for more than 100 buses from Tanzania, South Africa, Eswatini and Nigeria.

Among other budgetary allocations in this sector, the government also provided sh3.3b for space programme activities in this current financial year.

The government gives each public university an innovation fund.

President Yoweri Museveni has previously voiced the need to prioritise science disciplines over the humanities.

During this week's symposium, Rwahwire said cutting-edge innovations come from laboratories and not copied and pasted from elsewhere.

He argued that Africans are consumers of advanced technologies from other countries instead of innovating their own.

He stressed the need for Ugandan universities to have industrial technological linkages for innovations like those in neighbouring Kenya. That way, students who are developing apps can be placed in those industries and data is collected among the linked universities to support the matrix used by GII.

Science minister Monica Musenero (C) in a group with other participants of the first ever GII symposium in Kampala on May 15, 2025. (Photo by Lawrence Mulondo)

Collaborations

Dr Marius Murongo, a senior lecturer at Uganda Martyrs University Nkozi, said Uganda is suffering from a ‘syndrome’ of being comfortable when things are not okay.

He said the country's ever-declining GII ranking calls for deeper understanding and analysis.

Dr Umar Yahya, the dean of the Faculty of Science at Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU), spoke of the need for the Least Developed Countries (LCDs) to start telling their own stories rather than by multilaterals, whom he described as the big boys.

“We need to look at the GII ranking as an avenue to build our own systems nationally and regionally,” he said.

According to Yahya, Uganda needs to identify talent and train those identified to scale up innovations, with the focus not only considering the formal sector but also on tapping into the informal sector.

Dr Edson Kagona, the innovation manager at Cavendish University Uganda, underscored the need to create and generate its own data and have the right conversations with the right people at the global level.

He called for collaborations among the universities using the innovation hubs.

Science and innovations minister Dr Monica Musenero spoke of their desire "to make Uganda the most technologically advanced country in innovations and investment destination for innovations".

She said the government is scaling up the infrastructure and building human capital required to enhance research and innovation.

Mercy Kainobwisho, the registrar general at the Uganda Registration Service Bureau (URSB), called for developing a system of sharing data among the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to lift Uganda's global ranking.