The stalled building of the Kenya Industrial Research and Development
Institute (KIRDI) in Nairobi.
In the
heart of Nairobi’s industrial area, a large concrete structure looms, glass
fittings on parts of the structure falling off, while blue paint on other
sections peeling off. This is a skeleton of a dream that once symbolised
Kenya’s hope for scientific and industrial innovation.
This is the stalled building of the Kenya
Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI), a project that was meant
to revolutionise the country’s capacity for applied research and industrial
development. The once-promising project now stands as a stark reminder of how
we as a country have failed to prioritise research Science and Development as a
key driver of the country’s economic growth and development.
According to the Auditor general’s report for the
financial year 2024, the project has already cost taxpayers Sh5 billion, with
the original budget of Sh3.9 billion increasing to Sh5.4 billion as a result of
delays and rising costs.
In a
related development, the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) recently raised
an alarm that it may be forced to halt operations after being left out of the
2025/2026 budget allocation for medical research. The government allocated only
Sh2.7 billion for salaries and recurrent expenses, with no funds earmarked for
actual research activities, leaving Kemri solely reliant on donor funding. The
total national budget allocation for Research, Science, Technology, and
Innovation for 2025/2026 stands at a mere Sh993 million, which is a drop from
last year’s Sh1.1 billion.
Research
and development (R&D) typically encompasses three categories: Basic
research largely performed by higher education and public institutions and
leads to publications and few patents; applied research; and experimental development, which refers to
scaling up, pilot testing, clinical/field trials and such. It is largely funded
and performed by firms and results in patents, trademarks and new or improved
products.
Kenya,
like in most African countries, has remained below the Africa Union target of one
per cent of Gross Domestic Product in R&D. African heads of state and
government had committed to raise their
national gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) to at least 1 per
cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) in order to drive innovation,
economic growth and productivity.
However, this this seemingly modest target of raising GERD to ‘1 per cent of
GDP’ remains elusive. Kenya has been investing an average of 0.79 per cent of
GDP on R&D, which is below the country’s target of 2 per cent, and the
Africa Union target of 1 per cent.
Moreover, the share of researchers per million
people has also remained low in Kenya at an average of 221 researchers per
million people, against benchmark countries such as Korea, Denmark and Sweden
who have 7,980, 8,066 and 7,536 researchers per million people, respectively.
This implies according to Unesco that
Kenya’s share of researchers per million people is 86 times lower than that of
Denmark’s. In addition, the growth rate of R&D expenditure in Kenya, which
according to the System of National Accounts (SNA 2008) is recorded as a
component of Intellectual Property Product (IPP) under gross fixed capital
formation, has been declining since 2015 from 22.2 per cent to 6.4 per cent in
2018 .This implies a possibility of a declining trend in the value of R&D
assets in the country.
While
budget allocations are crucial, successful R&D ecosystems also thrive
through strategic public and private partnerships. In the short term, the
government must invest in infrastructure and skills to position public R&D
institutions as preferred partners for both private firms and public agencies.
For
Africa, increased R&D spending is seen as key to achieve self-reliance,
economic diversification, employment and wealth creation and meeting globally
agreed commitments. The calls for increased investment in science and
technology, and research and development (R&D) in particular, can be traced
back to the Monrovia Declaration of 1979 on Guidelines and Measures for
National and Collective Self-Reliance in Social and Economic Development for
the Establishment of a New International Economic Order and the follow up Lagos
Plan of Action (LPA) for the Economic Development of Africa (1980–2000).
One
often-asked question is why Asia has advanced more rapidly than Africa in terms
of economic growth. The answer may lie in R&D investment patterns. Take
South Korea, for instance is ranked 10th globally in innovation with 80.29 per
cent of its R&D expenditure contributed by business enterprises. In
contrast, Kenya’s private sector contributes only 8.66 per cent to its GERD
(Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D), with the bulk of funding coming from
government and academia.
In Malaysia and South Korea, business enterprises play
a leading role in both funding and conducting R&D, which could explain part
of the economic gap between Africa and Asia. As Kenya seeks to accelerate
economic development and be at par with its aspirators in Science, Technology,
and Innovation (ST&I), low R&D investment among the business
enterprises in Kenya key area of policy concern. China for instance allowed researchers in public
institutions to set-up their own tech-businesses in their spare time, undertake
consultancies for private firms and encouraged public R&D institutions to
commercialise their outputs.
To
bridge this divide, Kenya must urgently address the lack of private-sector
participation in R&D. Countries like China have encouraged researchers in
public institutions to establish tech startups, engage in private consulting,
and commercialise their innovations.
Kenya
can strengthen its R&D ecosystem by: Establishing transparent public
funding mechanisms for both public and private R&D initiatives; Prioritising
contracts for local research institutions ; Promoting the commercialization of
research outputs through clear national policies ; Supporting the creation and
growth of technology hubs that drive
R&D investment.
Technology commercialisation policies at
national level can induce specialised centers in agriculture, energy, health
and mining, among others, to strategically invest in R&D activities that
are likely to result in marketable products and firms and pursue R&D
alliance with industry and government.
The writer is a researcher in food systems and livelihoods.