The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and National Guidance has called on Soroti University to position itself at the forefront of the country’s technological revolution, cautioning that major multinational corporations operating in Uganda continue to import software solutions that local public universities have the capacity to develop.
Speaking on Friday during an interface with students from the School of Engineering and Technology at Soroti University-located six kilometers from Soroti City along the Soroti-Moroto road-Mr. Amos Mpungu, the acting Commissioner for E-Services at the Ministry of ICT, underscored the need for local institutions to commercialize their intellectual capacity.
Mr. Mpungu expressed concern that financial and telecommunications giants in the country rely on external expertise for services that domestic students can deliver.
‘We wish to see Soroti University create innovations that are useful to the public. There is no reason why multi-billion companies operating in the country should source for soft technology that should ideally be a monopoly of our own students,’ Mr. Mpungu said, citing entities such as Stanbic Bank, MTN, and Airtel as examples of organizations sourcing solutions abroad despite local potential.
He noted that while the ministry has partnered with several public universities to establish innovation hubs aimed at fostering problem-solving technologies, the primary hurdle remains transitioning those concepts into viable commercial products.
‘Under entrepreneurship and innovation, the Ministry of ICT has partnered with a few universities by setting up innovation hubs where students can come up with innovations that are useful for the public. However, one of the challenges is that we have not learnt how to harness the intellectual property that we have to be able to generate money out of it. The problem that we have is attracting funding, where you get people to grow your innovation. Innovation is not the problem, but scaling it to the market is where the challenge lies,’ Mr. Mpungu explained.
To address these market gaps, the ministry is collaborating with international partners to expand global market access for local tech firms. Mr. Shimpei Watanabe, an ICT industry promotion expert attached to the Ministry of ICT through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), revealed that initiatives are underway to bridge Ugandan and Japanese technology sectors.
According to Mr. Watanabe, the ICT ministry requested JICA’s partnership to drive technological transformation through innovation hubs established at Soroti, Muni, Busitema, and Mbarara universities. These institutions are currently working to design targeted solutions for domestic challenges in health, agriculture, and infrastructure.
‘The Ugandan ICT industry is promising to be one of the best in the world; all that is needed is commitment from all stakeholders,’ Mr. Watanabe said.
Academic leaders at the university urged students to adopt a practical, commercial mindset to tackle pressing national needs. Dr. Florence Favor, senior lecturer and deputy dean at the School of Engineering and Technology, advised students against keeping their technical ideas dormant.
‘Students should not remain cagey with their ideas. These concepts must be translated into real solutions, money-value output, and job creation. Before graduating, every student at the School of Engineering and Technology should have at least five working innovations intended for public use,’ Dr. Favor stated, urging learners to be solution providers rather than lamenting existing challenges.
Reinforcing the university’s institutional vision, Prof. John Robert Ikoja Odongo, Vice Chancellor of Soroti University, emphasized that building a self-sustaining innovation ecosystem is a national priority.
‘A strategic national imperative ensures that Uganda doesn’t merely generate ideas, but protects, develops, and translates them into technologies, enterprises, employment, and measurable public value,’ Prof. Ikoja said.
He further appealed to JICA and the Ministry of ICT to establish and fully equip a dedicated ICT incubation hub at the university, equipped with mentorship programs, prototyping facilities, enterprise development support, and direct industry linkages necessary to transition student and researcher concepts from the laboratory to the commercial market.