Lack of coordination biggest obstacle to innovation

LACK of coordination is one of the biggest obstacles to innovation initiatives that aim to create jobs and promote entrepreneurship in Africa, a technology research expert says.

Alfred Nyambane, research officer of the African Technology Policy Studies ( ATPS) told participants at a focus group discussion on science, technology and innovation (STI) that poor coordination was a major obstacle to achieving a return on investment from innovation initiatives.

“We need to see how STI (science, technology and innovation) policies interact with agriculture, education, health, industry and all other critical sectors,” he said.

“Coordination amongst key actors is still weak and disjointed. There is a greater need for closer collaboration to make innovation initiatives impactful.”

Nyambane said there numerous STI policies, protocols and instrument drawn up a local, regional and continental levels which needed to be incorporated into action plans at national level.

“We have a lot of policies at national, regional, continental and international levels. We need to ask ourselves how do they perform in a harmonious way.

“We want to look at how they perform together.”

ATPS is conducting a study on the role of science technology and innovation in technological innovation, job creation, skills development for employability and entrepreneurship.

This study aims to review and analyse existing policies related to STI development in the target countries to understand what works, what does not and the reasons for success or failures.

“The results of the Zimbabwe study and knowledge gained from other country studies, will be used to inform policy changes that will contribute to the development and sustainability of STI in the country,” said Benson Zwizwai, a UZ lecturer in the Department of Economics and Development.

“The study supports the attainment of the NDS1 objective of promoting new enterprise development, employment and job creation as well as modernising the economy through use of ICT and digital technology.”

This, he said, will contribute towards the achievement of the national target of creating at least 760 000 formal jobs over the fiveyear NDS1 period.” On the whole, the project supports the Government’s Innovation, Science and Technology Development priority programme identified in NDS1,” Zwizwai said.

“It also addresses issues of Human Capital Development and Innovation, which have been identified in NDS 1, as the engine to drive the country’s prospects towards the national vision of transforming Zimbabwe into a prosperous and empowered upper middle income society by 2030.”

ATPS is conducting similar studies in seven other African countries — Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda.

The information obtained will be used to inform policy changes that support the development and sustainability of STI in Africa.