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Minister Muchinguri

Tonderai Rutsito Techspot
Government has availed a fund to support young and upcoming technology enthusiasts and experts to develop their ideas. Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Oppah Muchinguri said that the fund was catered for under the 2015 National Budget under funding for research, development and commercialisation of innovations.

Projects will initially be funded to a maximum of $20 000, with a possibility for further funding

“The fund is to be disbursed in the form of loans or grants, which are accessible on a competitive basis,” she said. Individuals, public and private organisations or companies, research institutions and universities that have science and technology innovations, research and development outputs and processes requiring seed funding should register these with the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education.

Applicants are required to submit project proposal briefs and where possible they should be in a position to submit a prototype of the project for demonstration when called for.

Preferable consideration will be for projects focusing on:

Agriculture

Health

Energy

Water

Mining

Indigenous knowledge systems and technologies

Emerging technologies such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, and ICTs.

In a statement, the ministry stated that the submissions should be made on or before Friday, June 26, 2015.

It added that applications should be typed and must be submitted in both hard and electronic form.

The move comes at a time when most entrepreneurs have been calling for funding to kickstart their projects.

more in details on TechnoMag, Zimbabwe`s premier technology magazine.