Botswana parliament has approved National Innovation Fund to provide seed and early-stage funding for technology based start-ups and established companies with viable innovation concepts.
This was revealed by Prof Nelson Torto while speaking in the just concluded 12th Southern Africa Research and Innovation Management Association Conference (SARIMA) in Botswana.
Prof Torso said: “In this day and age Science Engineering Technology and Innovation (SETI) hold answers to new complex challenges that governments are facing.”
He commended Botswana for making significant strides in mapping the landscape of science, technology and innovation in short (STI) so as to promote national frameworks.
“Over the past 60 years both developed and developing countries have recognised this fact by increasing the number of SETI government bodies, establishing new SETI legal frameworks as well as implementing a diverse set of new SETI policy instruments,” said Prof Torto.
Already, Botswana has invested in two new institutions of higher learning which in their nature are public universities. One of these focuses on science and engineering while the other takes the agriculture and natural resources slant. Torto commented that building a sound higher education system has now become a “national priority.”
He added that although funding and financing research and innovation was an expensive enterprise, it was critical for both Botswana and other countries to build an inclusive and diverse knowledge society.