Mudavadi urges Africa to invest in research and homegrown technology

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has challenged African countries to shift from consuming imported technologies to developing homegrown innovations, warning that continued dependence on foreign expertise could undermine the continent’s economic competitiveness.

Mudavadi said Africa has the human capital, entrepreneurial talent, and expanding markets needed to compete globally, but needs sustained investment in research, technology, and innovation to turn that potential into economic gains.

Speaking on Thursday during the opening of the Africa Technology Leadership Conference (ATLC) 2026 at Eka Hotel in Nairobi, Mudavadi called for a coordinated continental strategy to strengthen technological independence.

“Africa must move from adopting technology to building technological power,” he said.

He noted that although African countries had established technology hubs, research institutions and innovation policies, many had yet to translate these investments into competitive businesses, quality jobs and intellectual property.

Mudavadi said governments needed to increase funding for research and development while strengthening partnerships between universities, researchers, industry and investors to help transform scientific discoveries into commercially viable products.

“We cannot build technological sovereignty on imported knowledge alone,” he said, calling for greater investment in researchers, laboratories, and institutions that can produce practical solutions.

Citing UNESCO data, the Prime Cabinet Secretary said Africa continued to lag behind other regions in research and development spending and the number of researchers relative to its population.

He warned that countries that failed to invest in knowledge risked paying to access technologies and intellectual property developed elsewhere.

“A country that does not invest in knowledge will eventually pay to import the solutions, standards and intellectual property of those that do,” Mudavadi said.

He cited Kenya’s mobile-money platform M-Pesa as an example of African innovation with global relevance, noting that the service had expanded access to financial services since its launch in 2007.

“M-Pesa proved that Africa can invent globally relevant solutions and scale them,” he said.

Mudavadi outlined four priorities to strengthen Africa’s technological position: integrating science and technology into diplomacy, linking research to capital and markets, expanding practical digital adoption, and strengthening trust, data sovereignty, and resilience.

He said African diplomacy should help secure research partnerships, technology transfer, scientific infrastructure and access to international markets as emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cybersecurity and space systems increasingly shape global competition.

He also called for greater African participation in international decisions governing technology.

“Africa must participate in global technology governance as a co-author, not as an afterthought,” he said, citing Nairobi’s position as the only United Nations headquarters duty station in Africa and the Global South as an opportunity to advance the continent’s interests.

On commercialisation, Mudavadi urged governments to finance strategic research, universities to support the commercialisation of discoveries, and private investors to increase funding for intellectual property, software, data and scientific talent.

He cautioned that expanding digital connectivity alone would not deliver transformation unless technology was affordable, accessible and useful to citizens and businesses.

“Coverage is not adoption, digitisation is not transformation, a pilot is not scale,” he said.

Mudavadi further called for secure digital infrastructure, stronger cybersecurity and data systems that protect privacy and national sovereignty while enabling innovation.

He challenged conference participants to establish measurable targets for research funding, commercialised technologies, investment and economic returns, alongside greater continental cooperation through shared standards and cross-border markets.

“Most importantly, we must move from technology ambition to strategic advantage,” he said.

Reaffirming Kenya’s commitment to digital infrastructure, research and skills development, Mudavadi urged African governments, universities, researchers and investors to work together.

“This is not a Kenyan project. It is an African imperative,” he said.