The Ministry of ICT and National Guidance has so far supported 70 locally developed applications.
Vincent Bagiire, the Permanent Secretary says they have managed to support a total of 70 locally developed applications up to commercialization stage.
Bagiire explains that through the National ICT Initiatives Support Programme (NIISP), the Ministry is ready to support ICT innovations and inventions through continued support to startups. He was appearing before the parliamentary committee on ICT, together with the ICT Ministers; Judith Nabakooba and Peter Ogwang on Wednesday.
Mr Bagiire told the committee that the ministry intends to support more applications in the next financial years. NIISP is a project under the Ministry that facilitates the creation of an ICT Innovation ecosystem and marketplace for Ugandan innovative digital products.
The Program primarily aims at facilitating growth and development of the software applications and innovations industry. Among the applications so far supported is; Wulira App, Academic Information Management System, Xente Money Transfer Platform, MamaOpe Pneumonia Diagnostic Aid and others.
Bagiire also revealed that the Ministry is doing well in regard to achieving E-government, aimed at improving efficiency and effectiveness in public service delivery.
“NITA-U has continuously provided technical support and guidance to MDA/LGs (Ministries Departments and Agencies/Local Governments) which has led to automation of processes and social-economic effects,” he said in a statement.
According to the National IT Survey 2017/2018, the usage of E-government has improved significantly with 71% of government services being offered electronically.
Meanwhile despite the achievements, Bagiire said that the Ministry still faces challenges of low levels of digital literacy and general apprehension to ICT due to low levels of intake of ICT at all levels of education.
He also cited challenges of vandalism of ICT infrastructure and lack of funding for the Uganda Institute of Information Communication Technology (UICT) and operationalization of the Media Council of Uganda.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Max Patrick Ocaido
Quelle/Source: The Kampala Post, 15.01.2020
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