Botswana seeks to transform into a high-income, industrialized economy by 2036 as part of its Vision 2036. Harnessing science, technology and innovation (STI) is recognized in that vision and national development plans as critical for achieving structural transformation of the economy and achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The STI Policy Review provides an assessment of the state of STI capacity, the national system of innovation (NSI) and the effectiveness of the 2011 National Research, Science, Technology and Innovation (RSTI) Policy which enable Botswana to harness STI for development. It identifies key strengths and weaknesses and proposes recommendations for addressing critical weaknesses.

The review finds that Botswana has improved its STI capacity in the past two decades, but progress is too slow and needs to accelerate significantly.

The country has important strengths that it has built since independence. But fundamental weaknesses in the NSI and STI capacity persist. They relate to education and skills, institutional governance of STI, establishing national STI priorities, financing for STI, the R&D system, support to the private sector, STI indicators, monitoring and evaluation, foresight and technology assessment capacity, international partnerships and various sectoral and SDG-related sustainable development challenges.  

Report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development