The government has intensified efforts to ensure innovations and research projects developed in institutions of higher learning are commercialized and transformed into viable enterprises capable of creating jobs and wealth.
Speaking during the Zetech University Research and Innovation Week 2026 at the university’s Mang’u Campus, Principal Secretary in the State Department for Science, Research and Innovation, Prof. Shaukat Abdulrazak, said the government is keen on addressing what he termed the “valley of death” in innovation, where promising ideas fail to progress into market-ready solutions.
The PS noted that institutions such as the Kenya National Innovation Agency, the National Research Fund, and the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) are working closely to support commercialization of research and innovation.
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“We are working towards converting these mind-blowing innovations and research findings into successful products and enterprises. This will be a major milestone towards addressing the perennial problem of joblessness especially among our youth besides tackling a myriad of other challenges that bedevil the society,” Prof Shaukat said.
Prof. Shaukat further revealed that Kenya currently spends about 0.78 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on research and innovation, adding that President William Ruto’s administration is committed to increasing the funding to one per cent and eventually two per cent of GDP as anchored in the Science, Technology and Innovation Act.
By John Kamau
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