Govt to give US$1m for research

inventions, a Cabinet minister has said.
Science and Technology Minister Professor Heneri Dzinotyiwei told New Ziana that Government had begun compiling a database of inventions suitable for funding.
“We have availed US$1 million towards this cause.
“We opened a department (in the ministry) on commercialisation as we have taken note of a wide range of existing results that need to be refined into goods and services that benefit society and the economy at large,” he said.
Professor Dzinotyiwei said his ministry was in the process of vetting a number of projects for possible funding.
“We have the Allumina project for water purification in Rutenga, the Olliken ferro- chrome – a plant for processing ferrochrome and a fertiliser dispenser,” he said.
Despite limited funding, he said, the ministry and scientific community were engaged in work that had potential to significantly accelerate the rate of economic recovery.
“We have succeeded in developing antibiotics that kill ticks instead of the costly dipping of cattle that needs costly infrastructure and a lot of labour,” Prof Dzinotyiwei said.
He said resuscitation and support of research activities would enable the country to “run where others walked”.
“Time has come for developing countries like ours to take bold decisions to support research and development which has underpinned the growth of developed and new emerging markets in Europe and Asia,” he said. – New Ziana.