The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production. The Second used electric power to create mass production.

The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.

Rwanda has realized that it has the potential to raise local income levels and improve the quality of life for its populations if it adopts technology. This will speed up industrial growth through development and integration of science, technology and innovation into enterprises.

Rwanda’s National Industrial and Research Development Agency (NIRDA) is a government institution at the forefront of implementing this, by aligning its activities with national priorities.

NIRDA has embarked on consulting Small and Medium Enterprises in banana industry and textile and garments value chain so as to help them upgrade their technology and technical expertise in order to improve production   and products’ quality.

After the findings from the Banana and the textile and garments value chain technology audit commissioned by NIRDA, the discovery of the low levels of acquisition and adaptation of technology by Rwandan industrial firms induced a new demand driven technology intervention approach referred to as the Open Calls Program that will be used by NIRDA.

NIRDA is calling on such businesses to apply for technology and technical expertise support.

Through collaboration between government and the private sector, different firms engaged in specific value chain sectors will be invited to apply for specific technology support, geared at increasing their productivity.

Through NIRDA, government will support the acquisition and adaptation of technology, thereby reducing the cost of adoption for firms, whilst ensuring that appropriate technology is sought to boost their competitiveness.

In the Banana Wine (and Beer) Value Chain key findings from the audit carried out by Apollo Segawa the Banana Wine Value Chain Consultant showed that Half the surveyed firms rely on traditional methods of production

"Half of the industries use basic equipment and most firms have a major ‘tech gap’: poor administration, management quality control, inventory management etc while all firms need support to improve: better production systems, quality control, informatics, training equipment and certifications” explained Segawa

He advised that there is need to improve banana beer, wine, juice and liquor production with better equipment and technical advice in pressing and filtration, distilling and pasteurising.

According to Abdoul Razzak, a consultant who carried out the audit on textile and garments chain, there are so many opportunities for the businesses to upgrade their garment production.

The study found  that  of companies audited ,less than 20 small scale enterprises have under 50 workers , only three companies have more 100 workers while only one was found with 500 workers.

"There is still limited exports as only one company which is C & Garment can export. The small enterprises cannot export because they are unable to invest in technology and most of them suffer from imports,” he said.

He said that problems that are still hindering competitiveness include poor design, lack of upgraded technologies, and reliance on imported fabric as 90 per cent of garment production in Rwanda still relies on costly imported fabrics which increases prices on garments and affects delivery deadlines.

Razzak added that there are no existing skills in printing, embroidery, washing and dyeing while manual pattern making methods are still used by 85 per cent of the companies. Cutting using manual manner result in poor quality and low efficiency of products, he said.

"Only 15 per cent of such small enterprises use software to ease operations. There is need of automatic cutting technology,” he said. The study also revealed that 90 per cent of them have no merchandizes and even those who have operate at basic level with no ability to handle direct export orders,” he said.

According to Kampeta Sayinzonga DG of NIRDA, the gap was presented so that they look at the step to move to industrial production.

"We will help those small enterprises in textile and garments with modern equipment depending on what they do. It is in line with curbing second hand clothes and create jobs for the local people. They still meeting challenges to compete on the market, their products are not well marketed. We have to support them with both production and marketing potential,” she said.

We are also promoting exports and we wish some raw materials are sourced locally. This will help reduce imports of clothes and second hand clothes and promote exports. There are potential to exploit as we have not yet even satisfied ¼ of local market with locally made clothes.” she said

She added the criteria for benefitting from support include being innovative and committed to quality improvement, work with NIRDA and committed to the growth of business.

Gloria Kamanzi, the director of Grow Creations Company said they still need skills improvement while raw materials import still affects prices on the products.

"We import raw materials from Egypt and Turkey. They are expensive to transport them. That delays to deliver on clients’ orders. We need experts to train us in different categories because we have different talents and specializations,” she said.

She said that tax exemptions on all raw materials and other incentives, training in modern technologies or reduction of raw materials as well enough finance will enable mass production and prices reduction on locally made clothes.