‘Innovation vital to economic development’
GOVERNMENT wants to close the gap between technology and education to create jobs and alleviate poverty.
Innovation remains one of the strategic plans of the government to attain an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.
Speaking at the unveiling of ZB Financial Holdings Limited (ZBFH) innovation hub last Friday, Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development minister Amon Murwira urged citizens to be innovative.
“There must not be a gap between technology and education. The technology that you are using should not be far above your level of education. The lower your education, the higher the technology and the higher the poverty,” he said.
“The reason why people continue importing goods from other countries is that they are not innovative. Innovation cannot be fully accomplished in a day, but it is a direction that should be taken. Let’s fight poverty by making our education dominate the technology trajectory such that we can start inventing our own things.”
The innovation hub concept was first revealed in ZBFH’s trading update for its 2023 third quarter performance.
In it, the group revealed that it had partnered local universities to establish sustainable and commercially viable innovations through a “University Innovation Hubs network”.
The plan was to use these hubs to promote the development of new technologies, fintechs, financial products and solutions for the country as part of ZBFH’s plan to grow its business.
“As ZB Holdings, we have worked until now, and do believe that this change that we have worked on is going to establish a partnership which we think is very useful for the future and should be sustained,” ZBFH chief executive officer Shepherd Fungura said, at the launch of the innovation hub.
“It is a great pleasure that I stand before you as we are going to have a groundbreaking launch of this ZB Financial World Innovation Hub. It comes in a rapid wave where the word change is the only constant. Strategically, innovation is necessary for development and cannot be overstated.”
He said this was in line with the government’s “education 5.0” plan of problem solving and creation of value.
In that regard, ZBFH hopes these innovation hubs will contribute to national development through partnerships with higher and post education institutions.
The ZBFH boss said he wanted to formally commit to this through a memorandum of understanding like the ones signed with institutions in the hubs.
“We do believe that this will, in itself, give us a future partnership which is going to provide value for our nation and for its development,” Fungura said.
“We would like to cross-pollinate as innovators, especially with institutions of high-level and post-credit level to solve societal problems.”
He said accelerating research and development within these hubs would help to fight brain drain as it would avail more opportunities to work locally.