Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), including ICT and the Creative Industry
As the country aspires for a double-digit growth, STI has a great potential to generate new sources of growth and improve efficiency in other sectors, which is essential in delivering the NDP IV results. This is an economy where knowledge is acquired, created, spread and used effectively to enhance economic development, whether for profit or not for profit, private or public without which, the economic development would be slow or non-existent. Leveraging STI, the country will increase the contribution of knowledge-based commodities (goods and services) by increasing productivity, facilitating import substitution, and enhancing export of products resulting from STI.
Efforts to enhance the STI ecosystem are ongoing; however, it is incomplete, scattered, and disjointed. Notable developments include: establishment bio-banks which are vital for research in developing vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. There are advanced plans to establish: a mobility industrial and technology park aiming at boosting the local automotive industry; a Biosciences Park to host a diagnostics and vaccine manufacturing plant, a national biobank, and a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR) unit; establishment of centres for engineering development and innovation and Engineering Development & Innovation Centre (EDIC).
Whereas strides have been made towards the establishment of modern STI infrastructure over the years, gaps still exist in the areas of equipment and capacity to ensure a vibrant innovation ecosystem. Critical stages in the value-addition process, such as scaling production, optimizing manufacturing techniques, and integrating market feedback, are not effectively addressed. Several innovations remain in the pilot phase, value-addition initiatives lack necessary support & investment, and there is often a disconnect between research outputs & market needs.
Under NDP IV, the national STI ecosystem was properly defined and the key actors identified. The e-mobility ecosystem was mobilized with 80 value chain actors in six clusters. In addition, eleven strategic partnerships for technology development and eight think tanks were established. These efforts have strengthened the policy, legal, regulatory and institutional gaps for STIs. The Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act Cap.222, the Trademarks Act Cap.225, the Industrial Property Act Cap.224, and the National Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (2009) have provided a framework for the development of the STI ecosystem.
To increase the commercialization of STI products and services, government will prioritize the development and provision of requisite STI infrastructure; increasing the stock of specialized STI human capital; developing the STI ecosystem; and strengthening the regulatory environment over NDP IV period. This will facilitate a rise in both public and private sector investment (about USD500 million annually) in technology development and transfer, industrialization, and commercialization. In addition, 50 Ugandan Innovation Driven Enterprises (IDEs) will be created and a rise in the STI contribution to GDP to at least US$10 billion.