Online Reporter
Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S biotechnology industry has immense potential to contribute to economic growth and development, and there is a need for concerted efforts from all stakeholders to promote the sector’s growth.
The National Biotechnology Authority (NBA) chief executive officer and registrar, Dr Deckster Savadye, made this remark in an interview on Tuesday ahead of the Industry-University Innovate Together Summit at Golden Conifer in Harare.
“Biotechnology is no longer an emerging technology; it is a technology that has a very huge potential to transform our industry and the economy because it is based on living organisms that are processed into goods and services.
“There is a lot of potential in the application of biotechnology, and we would like to encourage the industry, communities, universities, and all other stakeholders to participate in bringing biotechnology to life in Zimbabwe,” he said.
The biotechnology sector comprises sub-sectors that include biomedical technology, bioinformatics, biofuels, pharmaceuticals and environmental biotechnology.
“So, we can actually produce a bioeconomy — an economy based on biological resources, and it’s a billion-dollar economy that we can exploit to develop our country,” he said.
As part of efforts to foster the growth and development of the biotechnology industry in Zimbabwe, NBA has collaborated with Masvingo Polytechnic, among other stakeholders, and established a marula factory in Rutenga.
The facility processes marula fruit to produce products such as wine, oil and other by-products like briquettes for biofuel and biofertiliser.
The authority has also collaborated with the Muzarabani Rural District Council in Mashonaland Central province, Bindura University of Science Education and the private sector in promoting bioprocessing engineering through a plant that will process masau fruit into various products, including juice.
In the biopharmaceutical sector, NBA is collaborating with institutions such as the University of Zimbabwe, Chinhoyi University of Technology, Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) and Midlands State University.
“So, whenever we undertake a project, we look at the different partners that can add value to the project.
“There is a lot of potential in the application of biotechnology, and we would like to encourage the industry, communities, universities and all other stakeholders to participate in bringing biotechnology to life in Zimbabwe,” he said.
It is hoped that the upcoming Industry-University Innovate Together Summit will broaden the scope for industry and tertiary institutions in fostering skills and industrial growth and development in various sectors, including the biotechnology sector.
The summit, organised by Zimpapers, in partnership with HIT, aims to bring together stakeholders, including policymakers, research and development experts, universities and colleges, to discuss how tertiary institutions and industry can collaborate in producing graduates who meet industry expectations.
In this context, the event aims to showcase successful examples of industry-university partnerships in Zimbabwe and their impact on innovation and economic growth, as well as identify opportunities for strengthening existing partnerships and fostering new collaborations.
The summit also seeks to explore challenges and barriers to effective industry-university partnerships and develop strategies to address them; discuss the role of Government policies and regulations in supporting research, development and innovation in Zimbabwe; and foster a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing between industry and the academia.
“As NBA, we encourage collaboration in most of the projects we undertake. We collaborate with universities and other industries. For example, at our marula factory in Rutenga, we collaborated with Masvingo Polytechnic. And we also collaborated with the private sector in providing some of the services,” said Dr Savadye.
