Makerere University Vice Chancellor Professor Barnabas Nawangwe has called for a stronger, more practical partnership between universities and industry, arguing that Ugandan research and innovation will only deliver national benefit if ideas are pushed beyond the laboratory and into everyday use.
Nawangwe was speaking at the opening of the 10th National Conference on Communications (NCC 2026), hosted at Makerere University under the theme “Accelerating Market-Driven Innovation for Uganda’s Development.” The conference, first held in 2011, has over the past fifteen years grown into a platform bringing together academia, government, regulators, industry players, students and innovators to discuss communications, research and technology.
In his opening remarks, Nawangwe congratulated the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) for sustaining the initiative over the past decade and for continuing to partner closely with universities. He thanked UCC for once again entrusting Makerere’s College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT) with hosting the anniversary edition, describing the relationship between a national regulator and the research community as central to the future of the communications sector.
“The future of the communications sector will depend not only on investment and regulation, but also on knowledge, skills, local research and our ability to develop solutions that fit our own context,” he said.
Nawangwe used his address to press home a central message: that good research and working prototypes are not, by themselves, enough. He said the sector must also ask whether an idea can solve a real problem, whether it is affordable, whether it meets standards, whether it can be maintained, and whether it can scale beyond a single laboratory or project team.
He pointed to Makerere’s own history as an example of what is possible. In 2011, staff and students from CEDAT built the Kiira EV, Uganda’s first electric vehicle prototype — a project that began as university research and later fed into the national effort that produced Kiira Motors Corporation. “We should never assume that a university idea must remain within university confines,” he said.
At the same time, Nawangwe acknowledged that many promising university ideas stall too early — some remaining permanently at final-year project stage, others fading once research funding runs out, and still others reaching prototype stage without ever finding users, industry partners or investors.
MUTIC as a Bridge Between Research and Market
To help close that gap, Nawangwe highlighted the Makerere University Technology and Innovation Center (MUTIC), established in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme under the Timbuktoo Initiative. He described MUTIC as a multidisciplinary hub offering students, staff, young innovators and private-sector partners space for design, prototyping, digital fabrication, product development and technology transfer.
“An innovator needs more than an idea. He or she needs somewhere to build, test, fail, modify, try again, meet users, understand the market and decide whether the solution deserves to move further,” he said.
Nawangwe issued direct challenges to both industry and academia. He urged industry representatives at NCC 2026 not to approach universities only when recruiting graduates, but to bring real engineering problems, co-supervise graduate projects, open appropriate datasets responsibly, and give students access to genuine operating environments.
He extended an equal challenge to the university community, saying researchers cannot expect industry to engage more closely while academic research questions remain disconnected from real-world problems. “We need students who understand that engineering is not complete when a simulation runs or a prototype switches on. Cost, safety, reliability, standards, maintenance, users and scaling are also engineering questions,” he said.
Looking ahead, he proposed that NCC track not just how many papers are presented each year, but how many university-industry collaborations it sparks, how many student projects find mentors, how many ideas move into field trials, and how many local technologies ultimately reach use.
Nawangwe also welcomed the inclusion of the National Secondary School ICT Clubs Competition as part of this year’s conference, saying its presence sends an important signal that innovation is not confined to university graduates. “Curiosity does not wait for a university admission letter,” he said, adding that some of the young competitors presenting at NCC 2026 could return to Makerere in future years as students, researchers, entrepreneurs or technology leaders.
Closing his remarks, Nawangwe said Makerere intends to deepen partnerships with UCC, telecommunications firms, technology companies, manufacturers, utilities, start-ups, public institutions and fellow universities, with the aim of exposing students to real problems before graduation and pushing more university-generated knowledge into products, services, public policy and enterprises.
“May the next decade of NCC be remembered not only for successful conferences, but for partnerships formed, technologies built, young people inspired and Ugandan solutions put to work,” he said, closing with the university’s motto, “We Build for the Future.”
The conference was attended by the Minister of ICT and National Guidance, UCC Executive Director Hon. Nyombi Thembo, CEDAT Principal Prof. Moses Musinguzi, senior government officials and regulators, university and research leaders, industry representatives, development partners, and student innovators.
