12 September 2006
Hub to help attract FDI

GABORONE - Botswana continues to invest in engineering, science and technology education towards becoming an innovation hub.

This is reflected in the share of our budget spent on education, and the increased emphasis on science and technology education and training, the Minister of Communications, Science and Technology, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, said.

Venson-Moitoi said at the start of an International Association of Science and Technology for Development (IASTED) conference yesterday that a second university geared towards science and technology was to be built in Botswana.
She said universities conduct research and disseminate knowledge that can benefit the society.

Regarding the hub, Venson-Moitoi said the aim was to have a high concentration of knowledge based industry to create a conducive environment for networking between various organisations, universities and industry.

The hub will be used as a platform to attract foreign direct investment in high technology businesses such as information and communications technology, biotechnology and internationally tradable services such as call centres.

The idea is that the hub will also attract research and development activities of leading multinational corporations to Botswana, she said.

She said Africa faced many challenges in the engineering and technology spheres among them limited engineering training institutions, lack of qualified institutions to regulate the profession and lack of research.

Also there is lack of linkages between universities and industry and poor linkages between African engineering consultancy services and global practices.

Venson-Moitoi said unless research institutions and companies transfer their research and manufacturing capabilities to developing countries, they would continue to be consumers of technology goods from the developed countries.

It is noted that most economically successful countries have taken a deliberate decision to transform themselves into knowledge economies and this has ensured their economic competitiveness, she said.

The IASTED conference, which ends on Thursday, has brought together international science and technology experts and more than 200 participants from 40 countries. Held under the theme: Science and Technology for Development in the 21st Century, the conference is hosted by the University Of Botswana is being held in Africa for the first time. BOPA