C J Matembo, Senior Information Officer, SIRDC

The Zimbabwe Staff College’s Joint Command and Staff Course No 20 cadets visited SIRDC on 9 March 2007 on an educational tour. The delegation which was led by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mashingaidze, included students from military and law enforcement establishments in the region. Foreign students on the course included nationals from Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa Tanzania and Zambia. The Zimbabwe Staff College courses, which develop senior officers, are very popular and highly regarded in the region. SIRDC’s Executive Director Technical, Dr Leonard Madzingaidzo and the management team met the delegation.

Welcoming the guests, Dr Madzingaidzo thanked the Zimbabwe Staff College for the importance that it continues to place in SIRDC. The Centre has become a regular feature on the College’s educational programme. Each year, the Staff College students come to SIRDC for a case study as part of their curriculum. Dr Madzingaidzo added that SIRDC values this gesture and believes that the information and experience they get from such visits give them a good understanding of the Centre’s activities and its role in economic development.

Dr Madzingaidzo gave the visitors a brief background to SIRDC, which he said was established in 1993 by an Act of Parliament with a mandate to carry out strategic research and development (R & D) and adapt and transfer technology for the benefit of the industrial sector. He added that, “As an R & D institution, SIRDC has realised the importance of applied research as opposed to basic research. We believe in linking our research activities to industrial application as the panacea for easing the economic challenges currently being faced by the country.”

On commercialisation, Dr Madzingaidzo said SIRDC had embarked on a programme that has resulted in reduction to practice of technologies developed by scientists and engineers at the Centre. Today, SIRTECH Investments, a company jointly owned by SIRDC and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, has successfully commercialised roofing tiles, foundry spare parts and accessories, and science laboratory equipment for teaching subjects such as physics and electronics. This is aimed at mitigating the economic challenges facing the country through foreign currency savings and foreign currency generation from exports.

The visitors toured some of the institute research laboratories where they saw completed products and work in progress, including electronic display boards, low cost radio with flash memory, baby incubator control system, science laboratory and teaching equipment and a fetigation control system. The laboratory tour was augmented by brief presentations by some institute Directors.

Some of the students from regional countries commended SIRDC and encouraged it to market its products in their countries as they thought some of the brands were in demand back home.

In a few remarks, the Staff College representative, Mr Leonard Rupango, thanked SIRDC for its hospitality and lauded its research staff for developing technologies and products that have practical application in society. He added that, without R & D, the Zimbabwe nation would continue to import products that could otherwise be made locally as they witnessed at SIRDC. He encouraged the Centre to continue with its good work.