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Mukudzei Chingwere Herald Reporter
INNOVATION hubs and industrial parks that were introduced by President Mnangagwa as incubators from which ideas and science-based solutions can be nurtured to answer to national economic challenges, are seeds for rapid industrialisation and modernisation, Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira, has said.
Already, the innovation hubs, that have been established at all the country’s premier universities, have helped reduce the country’s import bill as they manufacture products that answer to the country’s needs and challenges.
This was after authorities established that the country had a knack for looking beyond its borders for finished goods while at the same time exporting raw products with no value addition or beneficiation.
Back then, even services, including what appeared to be basic, were being outsourced thus negating the country’s industrialisation quest.
This, however, changed when President Mnangagwa championed the point that Zimbabwe will develop using its own resources and local expertise, and in that regard innovation hubs have shaped up and are now responsive to the country’s needs.
Prof Murwira said while it is still early days, the hubs have in several sectors cut the country’s import bill and this is sure to surge once they get into mass production.
“Innovation hubs have reduced imports, increased confidence in manufacturing and basically they have started a revolution of industrialising this country. The ‘Nyika Inovakwa Nevene Vayo’ philosophy is emboldened with innovation hubs because those are our creations,” said Prof Murwira.
Giving an example of the multi-million dollar Marula Plant that was commissioned in the heart of Mwenezi, a semi-arid rural setting and is turning the Marula fruit into hard cash for locals, Prof Murwira said the idea is to produce proudly and distinctively Zimbabwean products that match global brands.
“One of the things we are doing is Marula Juice, it means we are now able to make our own juice and wines from the marula fruit. We were also able to reduce the import bill for PPEs, we have an industry which can now produce bread with 40 percent sweet potato and 60 percent wheat, thereby reducing the demand for wheat by 40 percent.
“Now we have got an oil press at the University of Zimbabwe, we are cooking new gold, which basically means we are not importing any crude, we are making it and refining it. In Mutoko we are seriously ramping up the biodiesel plant so that we will be able to produce about 300 000 litres of biodiesel and it means we are substituting the imports and we are making glycerol which makes detergents.
“Our agro innovations are growing in a very big way. We are working a lot on these issues. But what you are seeing is a seed that we are planting which has started germinating and basically it is a movement of a nation being able to make its own goods and services through innovation.
“We are looking at a movement, an industrialisation movement, Heritage-Based Education 5.0 and its accompanying innovation hubs and industrial parks. It is a movement towards the capability of a country to produce its own goods and services and in response to His Excellency the President’s call for modernisation and industrialisation for us to attain Vision 2030. We have already started exporting,” said Prof Murwira.
Former Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) president Dr Tinashe Manzungu, who is mainly into construction, said the seed from the innovation hubs is bearing fruit as evidenced by the appetite to buy locally by contractors.
“We are now buying more locally and this is taking our cost of doing the project lower because we are now able to transact in local currency for some payments,” said Dr Manzungu.
“We have bricks, cement, three-quarter stones which are all produced locally. The innovation from our local institutions is having a huge impact because they manufacture specific to the demands of the country and market.”
ZimTrade Communications Manager Mr Danai Majaha said the country’s trade promotion body is working with universities to commercialise their innovations.
“We are working with all universities in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation Science and Technology Development to commercialise the products and services coming from the innovation centres.
“In assisting higher and tertiary institutions, we have developed the ‘Cluster Development for Export Growth Programme’ which harnesses the advantages of numbers, ensuring that the institutions do not compete in export markets, but rather co-operate.
“In these clusters, we are focusing on improving the competitiveness of the products coming from the innovation hubs and developing all other aspects of the export business, which will ensure that they have an easy landing in regional and international markets.
“Examples of projects that ZimTrade is supporting in terms of export markets include the Chinhoyi University of Technology Block Licks project, Midlands State University Citrus project while other projects are also at advanced stages.
“As more products are developed, we will also link these hubs with reliable distributors that will help increase their visibility in targeted markets,” said Mr Majaha.
Online Reporter