President headlines inaugural research conference

Vladimir Dube

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa will headline the inaugural National Research, Science, Technology and Innovation (NRSTI) Conference scheduled for Thursday in Harare.

The conference, which will be co-hosted by Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development and the Research Council of Zimbabwe (RCZ), will address and highlight the critical role played by research in addressing national problems.

The indaba will bring together representatives of Government ministries and departments, research institutions, academic and the civil society.

It will run under the theme“Coordinating and promoting research towards the attainment of Vision 2030 and beyond.”

In an interview, RCZ marketing and external relations manager Mr Josphat Katiyo said:“His Excellency (the President) is championing a knowledge economy in which all policy pronouncements should be evidence-based,” he said.

“The role of the Research Council of Zimbabwe as the co-ordinating and controlling arm of research in Zimbabwe will be clarified at the conference.

“The conference will address national transformation towards self-reliance, which is an avowed Government goal and this cannot be realised without coordination of research.

“It will highlight the centrality of the research, science, technology and innovation (RSTI) systems to the achievement of Vision 2030.

“The conference will springboard the coordination of research in the national RSTI (research, science, technology and innovation) system to direct research activity in the national landscape as a single effort towards national development goals.”

He said it will bring together key actors in the NRSTI including, research institutes, academia, research councils, policy makers in Government ministries, agencies, private sector academia and civic society organisations.

The indaba, he added, seeks to highlight national research priorities “and motivate the take-off of high-impact research . . . ”