By Evans Najuna
KAMPALA — Makerere University has been challenged to stop letting research gather dust in academic journals and laboratories and instead turn its ideas into products, businesses and solutions that can transform Uganda’s economy.
The challenge was issued Tuesday, September 15, by the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Eng. Jonard Asiimwe, during his second visitation tour of Makerere University.
Asiimwe, who last visited the university in March this year, said the earlier engagement had not been concluded and returned to push for concrete action.
The Minister said Makerere does not suffer from a shortage of ideas but faces a challenge in converting those ideas into products and services that can respond to Uganda’s economic needs.
“I want you to design a structured industrial attachment and exchange model for academic staff, technical staff and practitioners,” Asiimwe directed.
‘GET OUT OF LECTURE ROOMS!’
Asiimwe also took some lecturers to task over what he described as reluctance to engage with industry and practical work.
He questioned the value of teaching concepts in lecture rooms when academics are unwilling to step into the field and apply the same knowledge.
“You don’t come to a lecture room and discuss something symbolically, but when you are told to go and observe it under a microscope and explain it, you don’t want to,” he said.
The Minister said universities must change how they train students, arguing that graduates should leave with the ability to apply knowledge to real-world problems rather than merely pass examinations.
He warned that academic distinctions would have little value if graduates could not turn their knowledge into practical solutions.
“The first class will soon be thrown into the bush,” Asiimwe cautioned.
‘STOP COUNTING PAPERS’
Asiimwe challenged Makerere to rethink how it measures the success of research and innovation.
He said success should be judged by problems solved, products manufactured and enterprises created, rather than simply the number of academic papers published, patents filed or prototypes displayed.
The Minister directed the university to develop a short, practical action agenda identifying high-potential innovations that can move through certification, licensing, procurement and investment within clear timelines.
He proposed that targeted engagements begin with artificial intelligence for health and the personal economy, before expanding into mobility, agro-industrialisation, advanced materials and digital transformation.
He also called for a structured university-industry exchange programme to allow knowledge to flow in both directions between academics and businesses.
LABS MUST PAY THEIR WAY
Asiimwe further called for sustainable models to manage strategic laboratories and common-user facilities, including staffing, maintenance, access and business operations.
He urged Makerere to strengthen its commercialisation systems so innovators can receive coordinated assistance in intellectual property, regulation, standards, business modelling and market access.
The Minister also directed the university to develop a comprehensive plan to transform the Makerere Museum into a national attraction, educational resource and potential source of revenue.
He said Uganda’s transformation would require universities, professionals, investors, industries and ordinary citizens to work more closely.
“Let a lawyer meet an investor, the university meet the industry, and above all, knowledge meet the Ugandan,” he said.
ASIIMWE RECALLS $10M INVESTMENT LESSON
The Minister said his push for practical innovation was partly shaped by his experience before joining Government.
He recalled an incident involving an investor who had been advised to put about US$10 million into a project, only for an assessment of the situation on the ground to reveal that the proposed investment could not even buy the equipment required to start the project.
For Asiimwe, the incident demonstrated the importance of professionals understanding the realities of investment, production and business before making decisions.
“We need to rub off those things and move to join a US$500 billion economy,” he said.
He also referred to President Yoweri Museveni’s repeated calls for ministers and other leaders to understand how national transformation can be translated into practical improvements in their communities.
MAKERERE BACKS MINISTER
Makerere Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe thanked Asiimwe for taking time to examine the university’s research and innovation activities.
Nawangwe pledged that the university would work with the Science, Technology and Innovation Secretariat to ensure its research contributes to Uganda’s development.
“On behalf of the University and staff, we are committed to working with the Science and Technology Innovation Secretariat to ensure that together, we contribute to Uganda’s prosperity,” Nawangwe said.
Professor Anthony Muwagga Mugagga, speaking on behalf of university staff, also praised the Minister’s interest in Makerere’s scientific and technological work.
Mugagga described Asiimwe as the only minister he knew to have spent a full day at Makerere during a visitation.
He urged the Minister to maintain the engagement, saying the tour had exposed staff to technologies and facilities they had previously not known existed at the university.
Among the technologies that caught the participants’ attention were Makerere’s large solar installations and drones.
“Today we saw things we never knew were in Makerere University, for example, the huge solar panels and the drones that we thought are only in Ukraine,” Mugaga said.
He thanked the Minister for his work and asked him to convey the university’s appreciation and support to President Museveni.
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