By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
KAMPALA
Ugandan government has been asked to consider funding of high-impact innovations and research to address key gaps required to drive national development.
Researchers and innovators could be students academia policy makers and implementers among others.
The call was made by the state minister for defense and veterans affairs, Hon. Huda Oleru during the International Research and Development Conference (IRDEC) at Kampala International University on October 18.
IRDEC is funded by KIU with aim to offering possible solutions to society aspirations through scholarly research discussions on contemporary issues, innovations technologies and challenges.
Huda said African governments Uganda inclusive should complement available funding to address the unfunded priorities critical to accelerating development.
“It is the mandate and responsibility of the government to fund it’s scholars. Research is a security, health and social development key that government should know who is doing it and whether he is patriotic or not,” she said.
According to the minister, government has been giving funding for research to public universities like Makerere University but, she called for a review of research policy to also cater for funding of research in private universities. She challenged leaderships in private universities to come up with good research proposals and present them to the government for funding.
“People are moving ahead to innovate so many things and innovation is not something that is cheap. It’s very expensive and government must continue to support at hand. Carry out research studies that help the country than targeting individual funding. Government will give you funding,” she added
Government allocates Shs30 billions for research but experts, academia have always urged the government to increase on the funding.
The minister also commended private education institutions like KIU for providing education alternative to Ugandans who cannot afford the high costs for studying in public universities. She also hailed KIU for coming up with a waste management innovation that promotes climate change in the country.
Speaking during the conference, the Vice Chancellor for KIU, Prof. Mouhamad Mpezamihigo said the purpose of the conference is to bridge the gap between people who generate knowledge and those in communities that suffer from the consequences of their research problems.
“We need to harness indegenous knowledge and use of available resources within our environment to be able to improve our climate and weather patterns other than complaining that humanity is facing a catastrophe,” he said.
The VC challenged scholars to come up with research and innovations which impact society based on integration of knowledge and practices.
On the other hand, the Vice Chancellor for Makerere University Business School (MUBS), Prof Wasswa Balunywa, also the Director of Balunywa Foundation and Leadership Academy urged government to allocate resources for research in both public and private universities.
“To foster knowledge development within our nation, it is imperative that researchers receive adequate funding. The government should allocate resources for research, whether for public or private institutions.” Prof. Balunywa said
The IRDEC is a three days conference that officially begun today (October 18) at KIU and will close on Friday October 20th. It is organized under the theme: African Leadership and Development Challenges: The Role of Research, Innovation and New Technologies
