Uganda’s NCC2026 calls for stronger academia-industry links to drive innovation

Uganda’s innovation ecosystem needs stronger links between universities, industry and government if research and new technologies are to translate into commercially viable products and services, speakers at the National Conference on Communications (NCC2026) have said.

The call was made on the second day of the 10th National Conference on Communications at Makerere University, where industry executives, policymakers, academics and young innovators examined how Uganda can move beyond generating ideas to building solutions that respond to real market needs.

Held under the theme “Accelerating Market-Driven Innovation for Uganda’s Development,” NCC2026 focused on the relationship between research institutions and businesses, with speakers arguing that universities play a central role in building a pipeline of market-ready innovation.

CK Japheth, Co-Founder of The Innovation Village, said Uganda needs to strengthen the connection between academic research and the industries that can turn that research into practical products and services.

“Everywhere innovation has taken off is because it is anchored in academia,” Japheth said.

Speaking during a session titled “Beyond Ideas: Building Markets and Ecosystems for Innovation,” Japheth pointed to universities and research institutions as important foundations for sustainable innovation ecosystems.

The discussions also highlighted standards as an often-overlooked part of taking innovations from the development stage to the market.

Patricia Ejalu, Executive Director, Standards at the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), said many emerging technologies are developed before appropriate standards exist, creating a need for innovators to engage with standards-setting processes earlier.

She also called for students to participate more actively in standards development while encouraging closer collaboration between universities and industry.

Government’s role in Uganda’s digital economy was another key issue at the conference, with NITA-U outlining a shift towards providing infrastructure and systems that enable businesses and creators to develop services of their own.

Julian Rweju, Director of E-Government Services at NITA-U, said government should concentrate on creating an environment where private companies and creative-sector players can build new digital services.

“We want to be enablers of the creative sector so that they can create new things,” he said.

Rweju also called for government platforms to provide open application programming interfaces (APIs), allowing private-sector developers to connect to public digital infrastructure and create services for users.

“As government, we need to create open APIs for operators so that the private sector can provide the digital markets. So, government is no longer just a service provider; it is a marketplace,” Rweju said.

The conference also brought the innovation discussion down to the school level, with secondary-school students showcasing technology-based projects designed to address practical problems.

Their participation highlighted the growing role of young people in Uganda’s technology ecosystem and the importance of creating pathways that can take promising ideas from classrooms and laboratories into businesses and wider markets.

For Uganda, the discussions at NCC2026 point to a broader challenge for the country’s innovation agenda: generating ideas is only one part of the process. Building the partnerships, standards, digital infrastructure and market access needed to turn those ideas into usable products will be equally important.

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