Hey, it’s been a long time since I did a post. Sorry......... I
have been on a very thorough academic journey but now am done looking forward
to be given more power to read during my graduation in a few days.
However, I have a good lesson to share from the journey. This is about my
research project that was focusing on Technology incubation centres for
international youth development.
First, I have to recognize and appreciate Hon Isaac Mwaura who
yesterday moved the most development relevant youth oriented motion in the
recent past - at least according to my analysis. I was very impressed. The motion,
which I feel was emphasising on my research project gave me inspiration to
write this post. The motion was about 'Creation of an innovation fund and a
national incubation system'. But I was a bit saddened though that there were
very few members to support this motion in parliament.
The motion seeks to address challenges that afflict Kenyans
on a daily basis and in return bring up legislation and administrative
measures to support innovations. Of course this is in line with the Kenya
Vision 2030 that seeks to make our country an industrialised middle-income
economy in the next 14 years. Therefore, the motion advocates for a youth
innovation fund and a national incubation system among other measures.
It is my prayer that this motion will pass so as to inform policy
to this effect. It is important to understand that economic transformation in
Kenya and in Africa at large will only be achieved if more efforts are put in
Science, Technology and Innovations (ST&I). Therefore, investing more in
education, science and technology, as well as building of the right skills
cannot be overemphasized. In many cases, this has been lacking in the
development process, thus creating a mismatch in available opportunities and
the skills from the higher education sector.
Graduates’ skills and knowledge need to be matched up with
the growing economic opportunities so that they can be of impact to the
development of African countries. Ghana and South Korea who had similar GDP in
1957 are a classical case of how Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) can
help transform a country. The difference between countries that have utilized
STI for development seem to lie in the presence of evidence-informed policy on
STI and commitment in implementing the policy.
In this regard, governments need to be committed to
inclusivity through involvement of the youth and women who have often been
marginalized. This can only happen if the government commits to
strengthening the legal, policy and institutional framework for technology
incubation centres.
With this in mind, there is
need to introduce policies that address technology incubation centres directly
and ensure that the funding element is well addressed while promoting
international set standards and sound practices. The lack of funding too needs
to be addressed as this affects the sustainability of the start-ups and they
end up as dreams that cannot be actualized into real enterprises.
In addition, the Kenyan
government needs to give more direct support for the technology incubation
centres as they are recognised as one of the contributors of achieving the
vision 2030 goals. The Kenya vision 2030 policy document has five-year
medium-term plans MTP 1 (2008-2012) and MTP 2 (2013-2018) that provide roadmaps
towards its success. Under this plans, various institutions both private and
public are tasked with the implementation of various operations and set up of
technology incubation centres in Kenya. Kenya has also ratified to
international conventions, declarations and protocols that are geared towards
the modeling of the technology incubation centres into centres of excellence
and economic development.
However, in all these forward looking plans there are no
direct plans on how technology incubation centres are supported and there are
some roadblocks encountered in the implementation of these policy, legal and
institutional frameworks.
Thank you
