1. The Fifth Session of the Committee on Development Information
29 April - 4 May 2007, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Innovation, Science and technology Policy For The Knowledge Economy - the Case of Mozambique by
Constantino Sotomane
Project Developer
MICTI – Mozambique Information and Communication Technology Institute

2. Country Background (Basic Indicators)
Area:799,390 sq.Km
Population (2005):
Total: 19,420,036
Urban: 31.0%
Rural: 69.0%
Government
25 Ministries
11 Provinces, 128 Districts, 352 Administrative Posts
33 Municipalities
Illiteracy Rate (2003):
Overall: 53.6%
Urban: 30.3%
Rural: 65.7%
Per Capita GDP (2005): USD310
Annual growth rate: 8.2%
Internet Usage Density (2004):2.7
Teledensity (2004):
Fixed Line: 0.4
Mobile: 8.6

3. Country Background (Economic Drivers)
Mozambique is rich in natural resources (hidro-power, gas, coal, minerals, timber, long marine coast and fertile land for agriculture).
Main exports: sea products, sugar, cashew nuts, tea, coconuts, aluminum, timber.
Main ports: Maputo, Beira and Nacala

4. Motivation, problem area
Nevertheless having all these resources Mozambique is indexed as one of the LDC
Some weaknesses:
Human resource development
shortage of qualified personnel and physical infrastructure to support innovation relevant to Mozambique
Lack of proficient personnel in Information and Communications Technology and stimulation schemes to encourage the active participation of the private sector
Shortage of scientist and low human capital
R&D and income generation
Weak industrial base and a lack of an appropriate technology base. Innovative ways for make mozambique being a more producer than consumer are the ones that will contribute to income generation and job creation
Week entrepreneurship and innovation culture for income generation and job creation
Poor copyrights enforcement
Low public and private contribution to R&D national efforts

5. The KBE Advantage at Work
Diagram showing reasons for divergence of GDP between Ghana and Korea over more than 25 years.
Korean example shows transformation from a poorly knowledgeable society to a high knowledge based society producing innovative high technology products.
Source:

6. Why Knowledge Economy?
Because knowledge is the foundation of development and a Sources of Technological Change (Korea example)
Because a global knowledge revolution, leading into a post industrial society (opportunity for Africa which missed the industrial era)
Get confidence and move to higher level of reforms and developments

7. The Four Pillars of the Knowledge Economy
A sound economic incentive and institutional regime
An educated and creative population
A dynamic information infrastructure
An efficient innovation system
EIR that provides incentives for the efficient use of existing and new knowledge and the flourishing of entrepreneurship
Source: Carl Dahlman, innovation in African Context- A forum for policymaker (March 2007)

8. Cross-country Comparison
Source:

9. Knowledge Economy Index Africa in World
Source:

10. The Mozambique Government Commitment on S&T
Mozambique recognize Science and Technology as a primary productive force and in its Five Years Plan ( ) defined three pillars for Science and Technology:
Scientific Research
Technology Transfer and Innovation
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
The S &T strategy was approved in June 2006 and launched in February 2007 by the H.E President of the Republic of Mozambique Mr. Armando Emilio Guebuza.

11. Strategic Objectives of Mozambique’s Science & technology Strategy
1. Foster a culture of innovation through Mozambican society;
2. Promote grass-roots innovation and of S&T-based approaches by poor and disadvantage communities;
3. Promote R&D and innovation within the industrial and public sectors;
4. Promote the transfer of technology;
5. Promote the use of ICT for good governance and service delivery, and for the diffusion of knowledge, in support of poverty reduction and economic growth;
6. Promote human resources development at all levels in the area of STI;
7. Build and improve the police instruments, institutions and infrastructure of S&T system;
8. Establish funding policies and mechanism for research and innovation;
9. Review, evaluate and enhance the performance of S&T system;
10. Promote the mainstreaming of S&T within all sectors.

12. Ministry of S&T Vision for S&T
Source: Mozambique Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy( 2006)

13. The Role of ICTs in KE
The Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy of Mozambique recognizes the crucial role of integrating innovation and ICT in all sectors as a facilitating tool that will strengthen capacity, improve corporate governance and increase the government’s effectiveness.
Mozambique also recognize that ICT skills are fundamental for the public/private sector as:
increase its efficiency;
they stimulate its entrepreneurial spirit; and
play a role towards high quality and diversified production.

14. ICTs and Development Plans
Development Programmes defined by the Government
ICTs as Enablers for Social and Economic Development
Plan of Action for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty
Government Five Years Plan
Economic and Social Plans
Public Sector Reform Strategy
Agenda 2025 for Mozambique
ICT Policy and Implementation Strategy
e-Government Strategy
Telecommunications Policy and Universal Access Strategy
New Telecommunication Act
Import Tax reduction from 7.5% to 0%
e-Legislation

15. ICT Policy Implementation Strategy Projects
Human Capacity
SchoolNet
MICTI-ICT Institute
ICTs Curricula and Certification
Youth Programme for Content
Development
HEI (Universities and Polytechnics)
Infrastructure
National Transmission Network
VSAT Nework
Universal and Affordable
Access
Telecenters
Digital Agencies
E-Government
GovNet (Government Net.)
SIP 2000 (Public Servants
Information Systeml)
Civil Identification System
State Financial Info. Sys.
(e-SISTAFE)
Digital Land Registry
One-Stop Shop
ICT Survey in Public
Institutions
Electoral Process Info. Sys.
Policy and Regulation
Capacity Building at INCM
Capacity Building at the
ICT Policy Commission
Telecommunication
Sector Reform
Content & Applications
Info. Sys. For HIV/AIDS
Distance Education
Knowledge Base for
Science and Technology
ICT Observatory
Country Development
Gateway (MzDG)
Source: Mozambique ICT policy strategy 2002

16. Human Resources Development The MICTI Model
“… a long-term vision for building ICT skills and capacity in Mozambique, … through a unique sustainable and supportive environment for the development of entrepreneurial and education activity that facilitate business incubation, technology transfer, training and the commercial exploitation of the knowledge-base”.

17. The MICTI concept Research and Learning Institute
Nurture entrepreneurial skills providing employment and wealth generation opportunities
Address the dire need for skilled personnel in Mozambique and in the region
Research and Learning Institute
Science and Technology Park
Technology and Business Incubator
Participation of international and domestic organizations that will provide expert input, seed knowledge and innovation capacities.
Source: MICTI Business Plan, 2002

18. The MICTI Model – Objectives
Promote corporate R&D research activities between private industry, research institutions, and academia
Provide a range of specialist support services and supporting start-up– business incubation, risk capital financing, R&D and product development, entrepreneurship development, management training, etc.
Facilitate the development of business and technical know-how that contributes to fight against poverty through expanding citizen’s access to global knowledge resources and attracting foreign investment and new partnerships into Mozambique.
Provide tenants with access to high quality, secure and reliable physical and communications infrastructure and services to tenants that minimize their operation and development cost
Creating in Mozambique an anchor project in ICT related fields that reinforce the linking of the country into the Global Information Society.

19. The ICT industrialization Project: Recommendations
Creation of an enabling environment that will allow more involvement of private sector in the production and delivering ICT products and services/solutions.
Creation of a workgroup of professionals and practitioners to handle the task and implement flagship projects. The identified typical workgroups included following areas:
Free and Open Source Software (FOSS);
E-Learning and Online Content Creation;
Information Security;
Infrastructure Development.
Improvement of education (Human Capacity Development) - as one of the drive forces for the sustainable development of ICT industrialization in Mozambique and Africa in general;
Identification, motivation and supervision of future entrepreneurs;
Use the MICTI project as model for innovation and entrepreneurship development.

20. The ICT industrialization Project: implementation of the findings
Based on the above recommendations and on the strategic objectives of Mozambique Government the team proposed to implement a model which will contribute on the development of human resource and creation of entrepreneurs that will accelerate the development of ICT industry.
Develop skills in the area of ICTs and management;
Create opportunities to the youth to develop business in the area of ICT applications;

21. The Industrialization Model
Mid-level
course
Business
incubator
Short term
Research and
Development
projects
Small Entreprise, Just after the incubation
Small and medium Enterpriise – Existing in Market
Decision Point
Students/ MICTI client
Enabling enviroment

22. The combination of the training and the incubation will:
Increase the capacity of the existing ICT companies in term of the quality and diversity of the services (the ICT industry will grow in tem of quality and number of services);
Increase the number of ICT companies in the market (grow the ICT industry in number);
Create new Jobs and Increase the labor market (incubation);
Exploit with innovative solutions new opportunities such us e-government/e-services, mobile applications (m-baking/mcomerce)
Private sector and other ICT practitioners involved on training, curriculum development, supervision during the internship programs and mentoring on specific area.

23. Roll Out of the Model
Start of the implementation of the Centre for Technology Development (CDT) -Transform the military barrack in centre of excellence in S&T;
Start of the ICT mid-level professional course (18 mounts course including 6 mouths of internship);
Graduation of the first 3 companies incubated at MICTI – each companies end up with a minimum of 3 employees;
Research activities in low cost communication technology;
Signature of MoU between the ministry of S&T with Sahara holdings to install a computer assembly line at CDT;

24. Conclusions
S&T affect the degree of job-creation enhancing competitiveness increasing the demand for labor. To enjoy the positive effect of S&T its necessary:
To have skilled human capital;
To make the education system more demand driven;
To develop a diversified science and technology infrastructure, and strong global niches in the IT industry;
Promote investments in knowledge-related areas;
Increase the role of the private sector and promote university-industry partnerships;
Invest in research and development;

25. Thank you for your attention!
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Thank you for your attention!