Innovation will drive Vision 2030

ZIMBABWE has one of the highest literacy rates in Africa, anchored on an education system renowned for producing globally acclaimed professionals.

The challenge of our time is to translate the literacy rate into a higher innovation rate capable of driving Vision 2030.

There is need to maximise on the innovation dividend that can accrue from a highly literate nation.

A 2014 World Economic Forum research paper indicates that innovation in Zimbabwe is mainly affected by funding constraints (25 percent), policy instability (21 percent), inadequate supply side infrastructure (14 percent) and corruption (11 percent).

With a yawning infrastructure gap, it is unsurprising that transport, water, communications and electricity are prioritised.

How then do we embed, align and prioritise innovation funding for these projects?

The telecoms industry pays two percent Universal Service Fund and one percent Innovation Fund taxes, and five percent Health Levy, amounting to $88 million in 2017.

Government plans to reserve two percent of GDP for research and development, up from 0,76 percent in 2014.

In comparison, Sub-Saharan Africa spends 0,4 percent on R&D, with South Africa, Zambia and Botswana spending 0,8 percent, 0,3 percent and 0,5 percent respectively.

It has to be noted that FDI plays a big role in driving innovation through transfer of best practices, technologies and skills.

Quite clearly, tie-ups with international companies and access to global markets provide economies of scale for innovation.

The Industrialisation Policy can be a key instrument in translating the high literacy rate to high innovation.

Essentially, the policy — which should necessarily be aligned to an Innovation Policy — should identify industrial sectors, products for value addition and the technological skills and infrastructure required.

Technology transfer should be at the core of the Industrialisation Policy.

Zimbabwe needs researchers to trigger innovation. Observably, universities, research institutions and the private sector do not have the human and financial resources to conduct R&D. National policy There is need for an Innovation Policy aligning Government, the private sector, universities and research institutions to avoid duplication of priorities and sub-optimal implementation.

Zimbabwe has to attract international students, researchers and professors.

Statistics show that at least 6 percent of Sadc tertiary students study abroad. This is higher than the 4,9 percent average for Sub-Saharan Africa and three times the two percent global average.

The Zimbabwe Presidential Scholar- ships Scheme should ensure students are attached at innovation centres.

Further, there is need for incentives to attract scientists and engineers.

Israel did it by implementing an immigration policy that attracted scientists and engineers. Today, it has the highest number of engineers per capita in the world (140 per 10 000 employees) — twice the level of the United States and Japan.

Research output in terms of publications should also increase.

In 2014, Zimbabwe produced 21 publications per million citizens in internationally catalogued journals.

This placed us sixth in Sadc behind The Seychelles (364), South Africa (175), Botswana (103), Mauritius (71) and Namibia (59).

The Sub-Saharan Africa average was 20 scientific publications per million inhabitants, compared to a global average of 176 per million.

As an agrarian economy, Zimbabwe should leverage on agricultural research and innovation.

We have to restore the capacity of national agricultural research centres and build new capacities using the latest technologies. That way, the high literacy rate will yield demand-driven innovation.

Challenges usually engender ground-breaking innovations. Many technologies were born out World War II.

For example, the pressurised cabin used in aeroplanes was invented to enable pilots to breathe normally at high altitudes. The ballpoint was invented to allow pilots to write orders at high altitudes, where reservoir pens were prone to leakage.

Zimbabwe should leverage on its challenges.

For instance, rural communities did not buy cooking oil and instead used rudimentary technology to express groundnuts and sunflowers. It was the same with peanut butter, which was produced on a stone grinder (guyo).

We have lost many local knowledge systems by failing to commercialise them.

Animals remain major drivers of draught power in rural areas because of the dearth of mechanised operations.

Yet Zimbabwe produces high-quality learners yearly and has thousands of professionals in the Diaspora.

Zimbabwe has been under the yoke of economic sanctions for the past two decades.

During that period, the use of mobile money services has grown exponentially, driven, in part, by the country’s high literacy rate. However pervasive these services are, there have not been concomitant technologies or value-added services riding on these platforms.

Zimbabwe can leverage on this to create a regional innovation-driven software industry. Global examples There are many opportunities that present themselves for the country to translate the high literacy rate to innovation for economic development.

Cuba has been under US sanctions for 54 years yet it is a leader in health and innovation, thanks to its 99 percent literacy rate.

Cuba’s child mortality rate is six deaths per 1 000 births, which is at par with affluent societies.

It developed a meningitis B vaccine and eliminated transmission of HIV and syphilis from mother to child. They developed treatments for diabetic foot ulcers and a cancer drug.

Israel is another example of a success story in innovation.

As one of the few countries in the Middle East that doesn’t have oil deposits, Israel is one of the richest countries in the region because it banks on knowledge and innovation.

Research by the Programme for International Student Assessment shows that the more a country relies on national resources, the less the knowledge and skills of its high school population.

In short, when a country doesn’t have resources, it becomes resourceful.

Today, resource-poor countries like Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore have several listings on the US-based Nasdaq, the second-biggest stock exchange in the world by market capitalisation.

Knowledge and skills are the global currency of the 21st century.

Apart from using education as an input to innovation strategies, Zimbabwe should use innovation to improve the quality of education.

Innovation in educational gaming can improve thinking skills and conceptual understanding. Simulations for virtual online laboratories provide low-cost access to experiential learning across the country.

Innovation enables real-time assessments and allows teachers to monitor student learning and adjust their teaching on the fly.

Zimbabwe’s innovation absorptive capacity is determined by the quality of secondary and undergraduate education and industrial training.

Creative capacity is driven by the quality of postgraduate education, availability of qualified scientists and quality scientific research institutions and a national innovation policy that drives all stakeholders to achieve specific priorities. Funding can never be enough. The trick is to prioritise available funds. In 2014, Zimbabwe’s expenditure on R&D was $118 million compared to $5,5 billion in South Africa, $624 million in Tanzania, $184 million in Botswana and $101 million in Zambia.

The resource envelope for R&D in South Africa was 45 percent for the business sector, 23 percent Government, universities 29 percent and non-profit organisations one percent.

Evidently, competitiveness in the 21st century is driven by the quality of the education, information technology and innovation - not just gold, diamonds and oil.