The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Over five years, the country has invested in STI to shift from commodities to industrial and knowledge-based production
NEWS ANALYSIS | JULIUS BUSINGE | When Vice President Jessica Alupo visited a science museum in Moscow, Russia, last year, she expected a routine tour. Instead, she found herself inside a virtual flight simulator, watching the city’s skyline from above, an experience that drew paying visitors in large numbers.
“I saw thousands of tourists paying money to enter the museum,” she said last week, using the anecdote to illustrate how scientific innovation can be commercialised.
Speaking at Uganda’s National Science Week 2026 at Kololo Independence Grounds, Alupo set the tone for what officials describe as a pivotal phase in the country’s push to build a science-led economy.
Over the past five years, Uganda has channelled public investment into science, technology and innovation, with the aim of shifting from a commodity-based economy to one anchored in industrial production and knowledge systems.
According to Science Minister Monica Musenero Masanza, these investments have created productive capacity valued at $1.52bn, roughly 4.5 times the initial government outlay. The sector now supports more than 150,000 jobs, including over 50,000 technical roles.
Electric buses
The government points to gains across several strategic industries. In transport, Uganda has begun manufacturing electric buses at the Kiira Vehicle Plant in Jinja. The flagship Kayoola Electric Coach recently completed a 13,700km journey from Kampala to Cape Town, while export orders worth $183m have been secured from markets including Nigeria, South Africa and Ethiopia.
In pharmaceuticals, the country is attempting to reverse long-standing import dependence. Uganda previously sourced more than 90 per cent of its medicines and all vaccines from abroad. Officials say a domestically developed vaccine platform is now in place, alongside a growing base of research scientists.
The biotech company Dei BioPharma, valued at $5bn, has developed treatments targeting cancer, diabetes and sickle cell disease. Government data indicates that import substitution in diagnostics alone has generated savings of Shs135.8bn.
Uganda has also entered the space economy. Since launching its first satellite in 2022, the country has expanded its capabilities through partnerships, including the deployment of a climate monitoring camera to the International Space Station. The Mpoma Satellite Earth Station has been upgraded to support satellite assembly and operations.
President Yoweri Museveni, in remarks delivered by Alupo, framed the strategy in explicitly economic terms.
“From the beginning of our struggle, we understood that the prosperity of nations does not come by accident. It comes through correct ideology, political stability, and the deliberate application of knowledge to production,” he said.
“Science, Technology and Innovation are not luxuries. They are necessities for national survival and prosperity.”
The administration has set out an ambition to expand the economy tenfold, driven by industrialisation, value addition and productivity gains. Officials argue that embedding science into production systems is central to that goal.
Early stage entrepreneurship is also beginning to reflect the policy shift. At the science expo, young innovators showcased projects in electric mobility, energy and manufacturing.
“Our expectation is to pitch and win the funding of our innovation and step it up,” said engineer Benjamin Ojede, who is developing an electric vehicle prototype.
Meagre budget
Despite the progress, structural constraints remain. Uganda currently allocates about 0.17 per cent of GDP to science, technology and innovation, well below its 2.5 per cent target under Vision 2040 and significantly behind innovation leaders such as Israel and South Korea. Analysts say the funding gap could limit the transition from pilot projects to scalable industries.
Officials also acknowledge a bottleneck in commercialisation. Sixty four ventures are currently stalled in what policymakers describe as the “valley of death”, where projects struggle to secure the capital and regulatory support needed to move into full production.
“The runway has been built,” Musenero said. “The takeoff has not yet happened.”
To address this, the government is planning a series of industrial platforms, including a national biosciences park, an automotive industrial hub and a high-tech innovation city near Kampala. These are expected to underpin the next phase of growth, with projections running into tens of billions of dollars in output and hundreds of thousands of jobs.
For Uganda, the challenge will be execution, converting state-backed innovation into competitive industries capable of generating exports, reducing imports and sustaining long term growth.
As Museveni’s remarks suggest, the policy direction is unlikely to shift. The question now is whether investment levels, institutional capacity and private sector participation can keep pace with the ambition.
