NAIROBI, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Kenya is seeking more science and technology partnerships with China in order to spur economic growth.
Moses Rugutt, Director General of National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI), told Xinhua in Nairobi that Beijing's economic development in the past three decades hinged on innovations arising from investments in science and technology.
"China is among the countries that we are seeking to establish more linkages so as to help build our expertise in various science disciplines in order to catalyze our economic growth," Rugutt said on the sidelines of the Seventh National Science Week which runs until Friday.
Rugutt said Kenya as a low middle income nation is yet to fully develop a robust research and development industry due to a number of financial and technical challenges.
"We are therefore keen to borrow lessons from nations that are at the forefront of technological innovations such as China," he said.
Kenya and China have already established partnerships in the higher education sector. Rugutt said the Chinese government has offered scholarship opportunities to Kenyan students to learn in various fields of education in China.
The Director General noted that Kenya's Egerton University and China's Nanjing University are already collaborating in the area of agricultural development.
Under the Sino-Kenyan cooperation, Egerton University will receive assistance in development of high yielding crop varieties that will be made available to Kenyan farmers.
The government hopes that the new crop varieties will help boost Kenya's food security.
According to NACOSTI, the involvement of Chinese firms in the construction of major infrastructure projects has been of enormous benefit to Kenya.
"The Kenyan personnel who have worked for the Chinese construction firms have received advanced technology and expertise from China," Rugutt said.
He added that Chinese presence in the Kenyan economy is bound to have lasting positive impact on the well-being of Kenyans.
In addition, the Chinese government is supporting the Kenyan Technical Vocational Education and Training Institutions with modern equipment to boost technical capacity of Kenya's human resource.
The Kenyan government also plans to open technical training institutions in each of the 47 counties in order to spur innovations in technology.
As part of the Sino-Kenyan education cooperation, Kenya's Kabete Technical Institute and Nyeri National Polytechnic have been selected to manufacture mechanical spares which will be exported to China.
The move aims to build the technical capacity of Kenyans to produce products that are globally competitive.
Rugutt also noted that Kenya is seeking to follow in the footsteps of China by increasing investments in research.
He noted that while Chinese investment in research and development is close to three percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Kenya's investment is less than one percent of GDP.
According to government data, the National Treasury will allocate 30 million U.S. dollars for research activities in Kenya.
The funds will be used to buy equipment for research laboratories as well as to finance those who have innovative ideas that can be commercialized.
