Rwanda is putting emphasis on innovation as a tool that will add momentum to its present pace of development. Six years ago Rwanda emerged on the global stage as having a consistent economic growth pace of 7 per cent per year. This internationally ranked her among the fastest growing African countries. According to government economists, the consistency in development has been due to stiff creativity to achieve set Millennium Development Goals (MDG). This was begun after the genocide—to rehabilitate a previously devastated economy. Government has decided to raise the pace of development by zeroing down on innovation as a priority that she expects will also consolidate the present economic successes. Vincent Karega, the State Minister for Industry and Investment Promotion, said that a new course specific to innovation is going to be launched soon at the National University of Rwanda (NUR). According to Karega the programme will be financed by Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). SIDA provides financial and technical assistance to governments in developing countries to trigger development. The country’s industrial innovation project is aimed at developing new ideas and reshaping old ones. Stephan Von Malortie, a Swedish innovation consultant working with government to strengthen the use of innovation said that the new programme will develop unique concepts to propel the economy forward. He explained that innovation is vital because, “we live in a competitive environment and it is not enough to just do everything like everybody else.” Malortie said that innovation requires changing mindsets, and challenging yourself to do things differently. Citing organizational innovation as a major component of innovation at the helm of achieving results, he said efficiency doesn’t necessarily need technology but rather management’s creativity to effect positive change. This kind of innovation is driven by the urge of top management of an organization to get better results in the performance of their businesses. “The whole idea is to make knowledge governance and money work together,” Marlotie explained. He believes that Rwanda is well suited by the cluster formation process, a type of innovation strategy, he defined as a “needs driven innovation process to identify gaps and develop concepts and solutions.” This kind of innovation brings minds together and sustains the flow of ideas thus boosting cooperation and competition. Marlotie whose first visit to Rwanda was July this year, made an analysis on the economy in connection to the country’s (Rwanda) achievement of MDGs. “The fact finding mission was to find out the interest, aspirations and getting innovations going in Rwanda by looking at the government’s plans and sharing knowledge at the universities and the private sector,” he said. Drawing from the fact file he said that Rwanda, blessed with abundant opportunities but the most important part is changing the mindset and how to handle new ideas. He challenged Rwanda to reap $200million (Frw110 billion) out of coffee by 2020, instead of, the estimated $85 million (Frw46.9 billion). The country earns $45 million from coffee exports. He further explained that to stay afloat in a competitive business environment, a country or firm has to ensure distinctive creativity that is difficult for competitors to replicate. A pilot project will start in January to promote the use of innovation in the country. But he warned that innovation has risks that must be handled with ultimate creativity and turned around to become benefits. Ends
