UGANDA SCIENCE LAB EXPO

In a post financial crisis world, scientific innovation will be the single most important driver of economic growth and competitiveness (World Bank Institute, 2010) and laboratories are the places were such innovations take place. A consortium of public, private and civil society organisations are organising a science laboratory expo to be an annual event for the Ugandan scientific community. These types of expos have been at the centre if scientific and industrial development in the Asian tiger countries after realisation that science and technology is a major engine of economic development especially through exploration of a country’s natural resources. They have been very successful in the establishment of a strong and well supported science environment in those countries.

The organising committee of the Uganda lab expo realised that laboratory infrastructure is very important in realising the contribution of science to national development of Uganda, but despite having positioned science and technology as a development engine for the future, basic infrastructure  for laboratories is still very poor at teaching institutions and fragmented in the public and private sectors. While there is increasing investment in laboratory based business these are not sufficiently networked to meet user needs. The new national procurement regulations require a large number of service providers both local and international but this remains a major challenge for specialised laboratory and scientific procurement.

Having realised these gaps and challenges, the organisers have conceptualised Uganda’s First Ever Science Laboratory Expo that will have a public lecture running along its sidelines to enrich Expo visitors’ appreciation of the role of strong laboratory infrastructure in fostering economic transformation through building quality human and infrastructural capacities.

1. To network manufactures, traders and distributers of laboratory supplies and services together with laboratory users in order to improve service delivery and cost benefit
2. Offer the laboratory business community an opportunity to showcase their business, products and services
3. To showcase the latest range of products and services in the laboratory sector
4. To create a platform for exchange of ideas and building of new contacts among the industry and science professionals
5. Offer an opportunity to education institutions and schools to showcase levels of competence in science teaching and laboratory capacity.

South African President Jacob Zuma and his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni underscored the importance of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in improving the lives of ordinary citizens and creating prosperity in their countries. Both countries committed to creating a fund to facilitate collaboration in human and institutional capacity development in the priority areas of, energy, and engineering (including ICT and geosciences), indigenous Knowledge Systems and agriculture. These efforts are expected to enhance human capacity, technology transfer and improve science and technology infrastructure within our countries.

Joint Communiqué by the Republic of Uganda and the Republic of South Africa, March 2010