Universities urged to advance AI research for economic growth

LOCAL universities have been urged to scale up research into how the country’s economic sectors can integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve efficiency and help shape policy formulation to guide its usage.

Artificial Intelligence has transformed the world view and how business can be done and Zimbabwe cannot lag behind in its usage, Skills Audit and Development Minister, Professor Paul Mavima, has said.

He emphasised the need for the country to shift from understanding AI to tailor making it to suit the needs of the economy.

“Our universities need to be aggressive in making sure it’s not just a matter of comprehending what AI is,” said the minister.

“But we need to be able to understand the models and also find ways in which we can apply them for our various sectors of the economy,” said Prof Mavima.

He said Cabinet recently approved the AI policy framework, which will be implemented across the Government with the Information Communication Technology Postal and Courier Services Ministry leading the exercise.

Prof Mavima said the adoption of AI is now an urgent matter within the country

“We already have that framework. We understand the urgency of the matter and as a country we need to really put together some resources to make sure that the country is AI-ready,” said Prof Mavima.

Meanwhile, he said the Ministry Skills Audit and Development will this year conduct a comprehensive audit to unpack the country’s skills gap.

Prof Mavima said his ministry last year conducted a nationwide consultation exercise, which gives direction on what the country needs to address.

“So, we are clear as to what the stakeholders want. We want to do the audit properly this year. But a lot of information we already know.

“From our consultations the main issue was that there is a need for our training institutions to liaise with industry so that they know exactly what is required in the various skills areas and then tailor make the curriculum to meet the demands of industry,” said Prof Mavima.

He said various economic players expressed concerns over skills flight and have called for macro-economic development for the country to retain skilled individuals.

Prof Mavima said through the consultation, the diaspora community also wants the Government to come up with a policy that will attract their investments.

“The other issue relates to the diaspora, a lot of them say they want to contribute to the development of our nation. They are asking, which channel they can use in order for them to do that,” he said.

“There is a Government multi-sector approach to doing that and there are quite a number of ministries including ours that are working on how we can engage the diaspora,” said Prof Mavima.

He said the Government should also retool the country’s technical and vocational training institutions to respond to future demands.

“We need as much as possible to retool our polytechnics so that they are producing the appropriate skills for now and for the future.

“So, these are some of the issues that have come out of the consultation meetings that we have conducted last year,” said Prof Mavima. —@nqotshili