Let’s use innovation and science: V.P | So Good News

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Mukudzei Chingwere Herald reporter

Zimbabwe’s ability to embrace and use innovation, science and technology will have important implications for industrialization and development towards an upper middle-income economy, said Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Constantino Chiwenga.

He said this in a virtual address at Zhuangzuna (ZGC), a high-level international forum for promoting global innovation in science and technology.

Forum organizers say the ZGC will facilitate global exchange and collaboration on high-tech innovation that informs the decisions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

For this purpose, the Second Republic is promoting innovations in various sectors of the economy, as well as the development of ICT.

In his address, Deputy Prime Minister Chiwenga said Zimbabwe is reconfiguring its systems by 2030 by adopting innovative science and technology development for major industrialization.

“Zimbabwe’s pursuit of Vision 2030 is largely based on the ability to develop innovative science and technology for industrialization,” said VP Chiwenga.

“To achieve this, the country has shifted education to the Education 5.0 system, which takes innovation and industrialization as the main pillars.

“The country has established innovation hubs and industrial parks in universities and colleges aimed at producing skilled manpower and products based on Zimbabwe’s natural heritage.

“The ultimate goal of this drive is to promote import substitution and indigenize the value chain as the backbone of Zimbabwe’s industrial growth and modernization.”

VP Chiwenga thanked the People’s Republic of China for supporting Zimbabwe in this endeavour, particularly through the provision of technological support through the Zimbabwe High Performance Computing Centre.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Chiwenga, through this collaboration, Zimbabwe will now benefit from science and technology through the High Performance Computing Centre.

“It is important to note that as a result of our collaboration, Zimbabwe is now one of the few countries in Africa with a fully-fledged High Performance Computing infrastructure,” he said.

“Therefore, the introduction of high-performance computing in Zimbabwe has catapulted the country forward in terms of continental research and innovation status.”

Deputy Prime Minister Chiwenga said another area where Zimbabwe and China could strengthen cooperation is in space science and technology.

He noted that the National Geospatial and Space Agency of Zimbabwe and the Land Satellite Remote Sensing Application Center (LASAC) of the People’s Republic of China are negotiating a memorandum of understanding in the field of earth observation and high-resolution remote sensing data processing. .

“Apart from the above projects, Zimbabwe has shown its confidence in Chinese science and technology by purchasing a wide range of research equipment and industrial equipment and machinery from China,” VP Chiwenga said.

“The People’s Republic of China has also supported Zimbabwe through short and long-term training programs in human capital development, particularly targeting members of the civil service.

“The training offered by China has advanced and useful knowledge in many scientific and industrial fields.”