Prof Kitila calls for culture shift to drive Vision 2050 growth

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania needs to abandon institutional habits that discourage experimentation, delay decisions and reward processes instead of results if it is to build a culture where innovation can thrive, Planning and Investment Minister Prof Kitila Mkumbo has said.

Prof Mkumbo said innovation could not flourish simply through investment in technology or the creation of innovation programmes, arguing that it requires a fundamental change in how government, businesses and other institutions work.

He said this during the opening of Innovation Week Tanzania 2026 in Dar es Salaam, where he called for greater urgency, accountability, punctuality and openness to new ideas.

“We need to do things differently; we need to abandon business as usual,” Prof Mkumbo said.

He identified changing mindsets and institutional culture being one of the most important steps towards making innovation part of everyday economic activity and achieving the goals of Vision 2050.

Prof Mkumbo also challenged institutions to stop measuring progress primarily through administrative procedures. He said officials should not consider a task successful simply because a letter had been written, received or stamped.

“We need to evaluate, congratulate and hold each other accountable based on results,” he said.

The minister said urgency was equally important, warning against a culture in which delays were accepted as normal. He also called for a fundamental change in the relationship between government and the private sector.

Rather than treating businesses as sources of opinions, he said government should regard them as solution providers and development partners.

“The private sector is a key sector,” Prof Mkumbo said, noting its role in investment, production, innovation and employment.

He said economic growth must also be judged by its ability to generate jobs and improve incomes, rather than remaining a collection of national economic statistics. “Economic growth cannot just exist in statistics; it must grow in the pockets of our citizens,” he said. But perhaps his strongest message was directed at institutions responsible for creating an environment for innovation.

Prof Mkumbo said young innovators must be given space to experiment, challenge established systems and fail. “There is no innovation without making mistakes,” he said.

He warned that an environment in which people fear punishment for failure would discourage experimentation and ultimately suppress innovation.

Leaders in both public and private institutions, he said, should therefore create room for young people to introduce new ideas, question existing systems and do things differently.

“They should not be viewed as troublemakers,” he said.

Prof Mkumbo also argued that innovation should not be narrowly associated with technology.

A farmer who uses technology to increase yields, a manufacturer that changes its production process to reduce costs, a public institution that improves service delivery or a ministry that removes regulations obstructing businesses can all be examples of innovation, he said.

The minister particularly challenged universities and research institutions to move beyond measuring success through academic publications.

Research, he said, should be judged by whether it influences policy, improves productivity, creates businesses, reduces public costs or solves problems facing society.

The call comes as Tanzania seeks to strengthen links between research, innovation, investment and the market.

Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (Costech)’s director General Dr Amos Nungu said earlier that the country needed a stronger innovation ecosystem capable of taking ideas and prototypes into commercial production.

He said mechanisms were being developed to improve the connection between researchers, intellectual property, investors, industry and innovators.

National Planning Commission Executive Secretary Dr Tausi Kida said innovative ideas should similarly be linked to national priorities, resources, implementation and measurement of results.

Funguo Programme Manager Joseph Manirakiza says the platform has evolved from a week of activities into a space where young innovators can showcase their ideas, learn from others, connect with stakeholders and find opportunities to take their solutions forward.

The scale of interest is growing. This year, Innovation Week received 2,000 registration applications within the first 24 hours, according to Manirakiza.

But IWTz 2026 is about more than celebrating good ideas.

UNDP Tanzania Resident Representative Shigeki Komatsubara says the ambition is to place innovation at the heart of Tanzania’s development, connecting promising ideas with government planning, investment, markets and public services.