Ugandan youth urged on utilizing innovation hubs

KAMPALA - Ugandan youths have been urged to embrace government innovation hubs as suitable spaces to help them realize their potential in ICT as innovators. 

Winston Agaba, the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) managing director, said although government continues to erect various innovation hubs across the country, not many people are aware of their existence.

This has resulted in their underutilization even as the government continues to invest heavily in the facilities.

He made the call during the 2025 Innovation Week held at ISBAT University's main campus in Kampala on Monday under the theme: Empowering innovation, shaping the future.  

 “I come from the Ministry of Information and National Guidance, where UBC reports, but I am not aware if you are aware of the innovation hub that the government has put up at Nakawa. I would encourage you all to visit that innovation hub. So much money has been invested there by the government,” said Agaba.

An innovator is an individual or organization that introduces new ideas or methods which help to ease how things are done. 

It​ can be an entrepreneur, scientist, artist, or anyone who contributes to the advancement of ideas and practices in their field.

An engineering student explains the concept of how the automatic hand washer works. This was during the 2025 Innovation Week held at ISBAT University's main campus on Monday under the theme: Empowering innovation, shaping the future.  (Credit: John Masaba)

Agaba explained that there is still a lot of space for innovators at the hubs.  “You can book time and have a lot of facilities, including free internet. Once your ideas are incubated they can hand-hold you to make sure that those ideas come to fruition."

He urged the innovators not to despise their ideas, saying even the smallest of ideas have the potential to become the next big thing.

“Think big, think small and know that every idea has the potential to become a global innovation that changes lives tomorrow, ” he said to an audience of over 150 people.

Prof Matthew Kattamplackal, the ISBAT Vice-Chancellor,  said the essence of the event is to unlock problem-solving for real-world challenges by bringing together top innovators from universities and tertiary in Uganda to showcase their skills through competition.

According to Dr Kumar Pradeep, the university director of studies, they are in discussions with the Uganda National Science and Technology on how the best projects can be supported. 

He said they are additionally planning separate collaborations with the industry so that rather than doing novel school projects, winning innovators can do actual industry projects.