By Simbarashe Muparaganda
Bulawayo, September 29, 2026 (New Ziana) — Tertiary students have been challenged to become problem-solvers and innovators by turning their ideas into practical solutions and businesses that can support Zimbabwe’s digital development.
Public Service Commission (PSC) chairperson, Vincient Hungwe said this while delivering a public lecture at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) on Tuesday.
He was speaking on the topic; “From Mindset to Market: Cultivating Innovators and Entrepreneurs for Zimbabwe’s Digital Future.”
He highlighted the need to shift from asking what jobs graduates can find to considering what problems they can solve and what value they can create.
“Zimbabwe’s ambition to become an empowered and prosperous upper middle-income society by 2030 would depend not only on its natural resources, but increasingly on human capital, innovation, intellectual property and the ability to turn ideas into useful products and services,” he said.
He explained that the value of research and learning would be measured partly by whether knowledge developed in lecture rooms and laboratories can address the needs of communities, industries, public institutions and markets.
“Universities should put Education 5.0 into practice by carrying knowledge beyond teaching, research and community service into innovation and industrialisation.
“Graduates should be technically capable, ethical, adaptable, digitally skilled and socially conscious—and prepared to create employment as well as seek it,” he explained.
Hungwe urged students to move from identifying problems to solving them, develop technologies with global potential, and embrace calculated experimentation.
“Innovators should test ideas, learn from setbacks and improve their prototypes,” he said.
He also emphasised that innovation requires collaboration among universities, industry, government and society.
Hungwe noted the PSC has a role in that partnership because its mandate includes the organisation and management of the public service and the development of human capital.
He advised that government should help create pathways for ideas to move from prototypes to validation, procurement and wider use.
He cited NUST’s response during the COVID-19 pandemic as an example of research serving practical needs.
“The university produced sanitisers, disinfectants and reusable masks, which received certification from the Standards Association of Zimbabwe and were supplied to government institutions through the National Pharmaceutical Company.
“NUST experts also helped expand national testing capacity through a PCR testing centre at Mpilo Central hospital,” he said.
He also highlighted the university’s continuing work in interdisciplinary research, STEM education and artificial intelligence, including an AI venture unit aligned with Zimbabwe’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy.
These efforts, he said, showed that the foundations for local innovation were already in place.
Hungwe urged researchers to develop solutions to challenges in agriculture, mining, health, education and public administration.
“Use NUST’s research and innovation structures, protect your intellectual property and build multidisciplinary teams that combine technical, business, design and social-science expertise.
“I implore students to develop solutions suited to Zimbabwe’s operating conditions, including low bandwidth and limited resources, while considering wider markets across Africa and other emerging economies,” Hungwe said.
New Ziana
