It has long being coming but finally the Ministry of Science and Technology (MIST) is set to launch a new science and technology policy, which aims to make technology an integral part of Botswana development.
“The new policy calls for a more robust approach to issues of research, science and technology,” said Christopher Nyanga, the Public Relations Officer at MIST.
Since the 1998 policy was launched, ICT has not done much impact to development because it was never implemented. “Currently the contribution of science and technology is not up to the level of our expectation,” he said.
However, the government has been actively promoting the ICT revolution, the new policy is designed to actively promote the use of ICTs in areas such as energy, industry, health, agriculture and education.
“We want science to have a meaningful contribution to economic development and diversification,” he said.
Nyanga added that the new policy has an implementation plan which was lacking in the 1998 policy. He said the new policy has borrowed a lot from the old policy.
Once the policy is launched Nyanga said the MIST through the research department will know what to do immediately and track the progress. Science is the backbone of development globally and we expect to transform the science and technology in the country to match with world standards, he added.
Nyanga said the new policy seeks to make new technology an integral part of individual and national devel­opment. Emerging technologies target biotechnology, ICT and nanotechnol­ogy and space sciences emphasise on meteorological applications, land use and aeromagnetic surveillance for mineral exploration. The new policy will be launched on the 14th of August 2012.
