The Harare Institute of Technology has been applauded for playing a critical role in national security by focusing on technology development, transfer and commercialisation thus fostering a culture of innovation and technopreneurship that creates a solid national defence system against technological threats from outside.
Speaking after a tour of HIT by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces Staff College students for the Joint Command and Staff Course Number 27, Zimbabwe Staff College Commandant, Brigadier General Augustine Chipwere said the issue of technology fits well into the whole mantras of national security and defence, adding that willingness to embrace evolving science-based technologies is an essential element of a successful military, hence the need to keep officers abreast with current research and innovations in technology.
"We as the military are no longer concerned about military threats only, but there are also issues that come through other avenues. You can have a country being destabilised just through the political avenue or through the economic avenue and even through the cultural avenue, you can also have a cultural invasion into a country and you are destroyed", said Brigadier Chipwere.
He added that there is the aspect of technology which they emphasise to their students and this is where HIT comes in: "as a nation we have to plan how we safeguard ourselves against technology that is coming from outside the country. Some of these things we just buy off shelves from outside and bring them have got a serious impact in terms of retarding our national economic development and subsequently as we proceed to do that we create unemployment that degenerates into a lot of political and social strife creating national insecurity within the country", he said.
"But I think the other angle which this institution is focusing on which is innovation, creates a defence mechanism because once we are innovative and start creating our own technology, then we create a defence wall to support the nation and this is why other nations are as powerful as they are because they are developing their own technologies and things instead of going out to buy off shelves.
"Let’s buy but let us also do some reverse engineering, so that we benefit from what others have developed and we perfect on that" he said.
Brigadier Chipwere also emphasized that modern day defence forces need to be almost into everything so that they play their role and give advice to make sure that the nation is secure because the avenues of threats to a nation have multiplied and it is really becoming a major problem as to how to effectively secure a country against all the threats coming from various angles. "Today’s interaction exposed us to research and innovation which is critical in the realisation of national programmess and development", he said.
As part of efforts to broaden knowledge of army officers on the impact of science and technology towards economic development of a country, officers from the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and their allied counterparts from the SADC region toured HIT which is one of the country’s universities specialising in technology development, transfer and commercilisation.
The Acting Vice Chancellor, Engineer Quinton Kanhukamwe said the Institute is ideal for showcasing what the country’s tertiary institutions are capable of offering in terms of research and technology.
