Technology
It has been said that global competitiveness is dependent on technological advancement the country has achieved. It can also refer to the capability of both public and private sector entities to access, apply, adopt, adapt and deploy technical knowledge to gain competitive advantage. The technological capabilities of Uganda that its national system of innovation has an impact on the export competitiveness of the business entities operating within Uganda. This is so as international investors tend to direct their investments to countries which have high levels of technological capabilities.
The progress Uganda has made in the area of technology compared to Malaysia is indicated in the table below.
| Comparators | Uganda | Malaysia |
| Technology Achievement Index (TAI) | 0.24 | 0.34 |
| Share of expenditure on R&D as a percentage GDP | 0.3% | 0.63 |
| Innovations | 3 patent applications are submitted per year | over 6000 patents per year |
| Ratio of science graduates to Arts graduates | 1:5 | 1:1.5 |
Uganda is investing less than 50% in research and development when compared with Malaysia. For every 100 students, Malaysia gets about 67 science graduates and Uganda gets 20 science graduates and the rest graduate in art subjects.
The low level of productivity experienced in Uganda is partly due to limited application of Science Technology and Innovation (STI) in the production processes and service delivery mechanisms. Uganda’s ambition to become a major player in the international market will therefore be limited by the country’s level of technological capacity.
In order to address the challenges referred to above, the Government of Uganda has created the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology to specifically address the ICT issues which are negatively affecting efforts the key players in the economy.