Research and Innovation Uptake Landscape in Rwanda: Analysis of the STI Framework

The use of scientific knowledge for society development requires enabling frameworks that allow the connection between knowledge production and use. STI policies and institutional arrangement are seen as a point of departure for such enabling frameworks. However, there is a need for understanding how individual countries are addressing the STI policies and institutional related issues as a means for increasing the potential for the use of scientific knowledge for development. This chapter assesses STI policy setting, institutional framework and capacity building mechanisms in the Rwandan context. It discusses ways for operationalizing research and innovation uptake frameworks based on existing driving and constraint factors for research and innovation development in Rwanda. A structured literature review, survey and data mining were used for collecting needed data for this study. The study shows a promising progress in Science, Technology and Innovation policy and institutional framework development. Whereas the lack of trust among stakeholders, low research capacity, lack of funding and low collaboration among actors were the major challenges. The establishment of an operational National Innovation System and a contextualized Triple Helix Model were identified as among the better options to be explored for accelerating the facilitation of research and innovation uptake in Rwanda.