Rwanda, Sweden enter Innovation pact

Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) in conjunction with the government of Rwanda will fund an Innovation Project at the National University of Rwanda, Vincent Karega, the State Minister for Industry and Investment promotion, revealed yesterday. “The project will be mainly focus on technology in industry for value addition,” Karega said in a phone interview. He reiterated that innovation is a “very much needed ingredient for development” intended to “revolutionize ideas,” adding, “The sky is the limit in development.” In his presentation at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) to various stakeholders in the Rwandan economy, Stephan Von Malortie, a Swedish Innovation Consultant working with the government of Rwanda, defined innovation as “new solutions brought to the market with success.” He disclosed that a pilot project to boost the culture of innovation in Rwandais scheduled to start operating in January. Von Malortie said that there were opportunities everywhere in Rwanda but that the most important part was changing the mindset and how to handle new ideas. He pointed out that innovation incorporates the element of risks and requires patience to get results. “Problem of Innovation is handling the risk which means going out of the normal,” he said. He added that once an innovation is successfully implemented, there are enormous financial benefits and market competition and that once the aspect of innovation is given priority in Rwanda, there will be sustainable development. Ends