Science and technology in Uganda refers to the growth within the technological industry in response to government efforts to develop a national innovation system, as well as any subsequent socioeconomic and cultural impacts of these endeavours.
In 2013, manufacturers contributed 10% of GDP, compared to 21% for the industry as a whole and 25% for agriculture. Half of GDP (54%) came from the services sector. In 2012, Uganda's main exports were all agricultural products: unroasted coffee (30.6%), cotton (5.6%) and tobacco (5.5%). In 2010, it spent less than 5% of GDP on agriculture, despite African countries having committed to the target of 10% when the African Union adopted the Maputo Declaration in 2003. They reiterated this goal in the Malabo Declaration adopted in Equatorial Guinea in 2014. In the latter declaration, they reaffirmed their 'intention to devote 10% of their national budgets to agricultural development and agreed to target such as doubling agricultural productivity, halving post-harvest loss and bringing stunting down to 10% across Africa. However, African leaders meeting in Equatorial Guinea failed to resolve the debate on establishing a common standard of measurement for the 10% target.
In 2013, Uganda was ranked 36th out of 52 countries on the Ibrahim Index of African Governance. Some 16% of the population had access to internet and 44% a mobile phone subscription in 2013. One in four (26%) Ugandans had access to sanitation, 42% to improved water and 15% to electricity in 2011. The government spent 4.3% of GDP on health and 1.9% of GDP on the military in 2013. Inflows of foreign direct investment amounted to 4.8% of GDP in 2013.
In 2014, the population was growing at a rate of 3.31% per year. In sub-Saharan Africa, only Niger (3.87% per year) and South Sudan (3.84%) recorded faster growth rates.
Public expenditure on education amounted to 3.3% of GDP in 2012. Of this, 11% (0.4% of GDP) was earmarked for higher education. Uganda has achieved universal primary education but only one-quarter of students attend secondary school (27% gross enrollment ratio in 2013) and 4.4% attend university. Uganda was ranked 124th in the Global Innovation Index in 2025
Science policy framework
National science, technology and innovation policy The National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy dates from 2009. Its overarching goal is to 'strengthen national capability to generate, transfer and apply scientific knowledge, skills and technologies that ensure sustainable utilisation of natural resources for the realisation of Uganda's development objectives.' The policy precedes Uganda Vision 2040, which was launched in April 2013 to transform 'Ugandan society from a peasant to a modern and prosperous country within 30 years,' in the words of the Cabinet. Uganda Vision 2040 vows to strengthen the private sector, improve education and training, modernize infrastructure and the underdeveloped services and agriculture sectors, foster industrialization and promote good governance, among other goals. Potential areas for economic development include oil and gas, tourism, minerals and information and communication technologies (ICTs).
The National Council for Science and Technology falls under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. The council's strategic objectives include: the rationalization of science and technology policy to boost technological innovation; enhancing the national system of research, intellectual property, product development and technology transfer; strengthening public acceptance of science and technology; and upgrading institutional research capacity. The National Council for Science and Technology identified the following shortcomings in higher education in 2007: very few science degree programmes exist; enrolment in basic sciences is negligible; laboratories are generally scarce, under-equipped and obsolete; very limited funding exists for capital or recurrent expenses for training in science and engineering; almost all research funding comes from external (donor) sources, making it unsustainable and difficult to establish a national research programme to support a development-driven agenda; Despite the burgeoning enrolment, very little systematic attention is being paid to the development of domestic graduate education. Fewer than 500 professors in the entire country have PhDs and fewer than 10 new PhDs are awarded annually in sciences and engineering; fee policies and lack of adequate infrastructure for science and engineering encourage the expansion of undergraduate programmes in arts and humanities, resulting in a dwindling intake for courses in science and engineering and a general lack of interest in, and focus on, these areas; the universities and the general higher education, be it public or private, lack strategies to improve conditions for research.
Millennium Science Initiative In 2007, the National Council for Science and Technology launched the Millennium Science Initiative (2007–2013), which was co-financed by the World Bank. At a time when the economy's formal sector was expanding rapidly and real investment was rising sharply, the Council considered that continued economic progress would require more and better use of knowledge and more and better qualified human resources for science and technology. To correct these shortcomings, the Millennium Science Initiative established a funding facility and an outreach programme. The funding facility provided competitive grants through three windows: top-end research involving both senior researchers and graduate students; the creation of undergraduate programmes in basic science and engineering; and support for cooperation with the private sector, which consisted of company internships for students and grants for technology platforms through which firms and researchers could collaborate on solving problems of direct interest to industry. The Outreach Programme proposed a series of school visits by top scientists and researchers to change negative perceptions that deterred Ugandans from pursuing careers in science. A National Science Week was also established. In parallel, this second component sought to strengthen the institutional capacity of the National Council for Science and Technology and the Uganda Industrial Research Institute and, more generally, to improve policy implementation, evaluation and monitoring.
Presidential Initiative on Science and Technology In July 2010, the Presidential Initiative on Science and Technology offered a further boost by creating a fund to foster innovation at Makerere University over the next five years. When President Museveni visited Makerere University in December 2009, he noticed that many undergraduate students had produced interesting prototypes of machines and implements, and that PhD students and senior researchers were working on inventions with potential for transforming rural Ugandan society but that innovation was being held back by the lack of modern research and teaching laboratories. After the visit, he decided to create a Presidential Innovations Fund endowed with UGX 25 billion (circa US$8.5 million) over five years to support innovation-related projects at the university's College of Engineering, Art, Design and Technology. The fund became operational in July 2010. It covered the cost of modernizing laboratories and the implementation of ten projects at the university. It also financed undergraduate science and engineering programmes, academia–private sector partnerships, student internships, science policy formulation and science popularization in schools and communities.
By 2014, the projects had developed: an academic records management system; more than 30 internet laboratories (ilabs) in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; a business incubator, the Centre for Technology Design and Development; a Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation; more than 30 innovation clusters for metal, salt, coffee, milk, pineapple, etc.; appropriate irrigation; a vehicle design project (the Kiira EV car), which evolved into the Centre for Research in Transportation Technologies; makapads, the only sanitary wear for women in Africa made from natural materials (papyrus and paper), including for maternity use; a Community Wireless Resource Centre.
Measures to promote innovation
Innovation hubs Business incubation and innovation are being promoted by several Ugandan institutions, including the Uganda Industrial Research Institute and the Uganda Investment Authority. The latter is a parastatal agency which works in conjunction with the government to facilitate private sector investment. One of the authority's most flourishing sectors is ICT (Information and Communications Technology). This sector has seen major investment in recent years to develop Uganda's backbone infrastructure network, which consists of fibre-optic cables and related equipment, as well as mobile broadband infrastructure.
Uganda has an innovation hub named Hive Colab, which was launched in 2010 by AfriLabs and is headed by Barbara Birungi. It serves as a collaborative space to facilitate interaction among technology entrepreneurs, web and mobile app developers, designers, investors, venture capitalists and donors. Hive Colab provides facilities, support and advice to members to help them launch successful start-up enterprises. The hub offers a virtual incubation platform that is intended to assist entrepreneurial activity, particularly in rural areas. Its three programme focus areas are ICT and mobile technologies, climate technologies and agribusiness innovation.
Another incubator, the Consortium for enhancing University Responsiveness to Agribusiness Development Limited (CURAD), is a public–private partnership which targets young innovators in the agribusiness sector with the goal of generating new enterprises and employment. This non-profit company was launched in May 2014 and is based at Makerere University.
In September 2013, the government launched a Business Process Outsourcing Incubation Centre at the Uganda Bureau of Statistics House. The facility can accommodate 250 agents and is run by three private companies. The Government of Uganda has targeted this industry to address youth unemployment and stimulate investment in information-technology-enabled services.
Prizes Since 2010, two annual prizes have incentivized innovation in Uganda. The first are the Community Innovations Awards, a competition for mobile apps that encourages university students to innovate in the areas of agriculture, health and education. Each year since 2012, Orange Uganda, a division of France Telecom, has sponsored this prize. Since 2010, the Uganda Communications Commission has also organized the Annual Communications Innovation Awards, which reward excellence in ICT innovation that contributes to national development goals. The prizes are awarded in several categories, including digital content, ICT for development, service excellence, business excellence and young ICT innovators.
Innovation and strategy firms A new category of innovation and strategy firms such as Ortega Group are mushrooming in Uganda to complete the innovation ecosystem. Such firms are known as I&S firms.
Research trends
Financial investment Research funding climbed between 2008 and 2010 from 0.33% to 0.48% of GDP, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. More than half of research expenditure (57.3%) came from abroad in 2010. The government contributed a further 21.9%, businesses 13.7%, higher education 1.0% and private non-profit organizations 6.0%.