The Ministry of ICT and National Guidance on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Innovation Village geared towards driving the ICT innovation agenda in Uganda.
This is in line with the government's commitment to create a digitally driven economy and realize universal goals inclusion, sustainable development, economic progress and poverty eradication through digital innovation.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, at the ICT Ministry head office, in Kampala, Dr. Aminah Zawedde, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance said the partnership intends to unlock the market opportunity for Uganda’s ICT innovators and facilitate a legal framework.
She said this will in turn support public-private collaboration to transform Uganda’s ICT innovation landscape for socio-economic development.
"Our digital Uganda vision provides an overarching framework and unified ICT policy direction that responds to Vision 2040," she said.
According to Japheth Kawanguzi, Team Lead at the Innovation Village, this collaboration will see government support the IT ecosystem through financing mechanisms to deliver tailor- made services to young tech-preneurs.
"Together, we will work towards capacity building and development of innovators, and build a virtual factory network at national level to empower ICT innovators and entrepreneurs to scale their businesses, with a focus on the competitive advantages of each of Uganda’s regions, aligned to the National Development Plan (NDP) III," he said.
The move is strategically geared towards sustainably supporting the National ICT Initiatives Support Programme (NIISP) whose sole aim is to facilitate the creation of an ICT innovation ecosystem, equip entrepreneurs with digitals skills and find a market for Ugandan innovative digital products both locally and internationally.