Chapter 12

There is a story to be told about how ICT entered into Tanzania. The national university in Dar es Salaam (UDSM) was a key actor¹⁴³. It is also a story about an emerging innovation system for ICT. The time window is the years just after the millennium shift. During these years an organisational change took place at UDSM. The faculties of technology and engineering merged into a College – CoET with specific benefits for the innovation processes. A university never stand still at least not when it comes to organisational structures. CoET later changed form into more than one college. In this chapter we keep to CoET as it existed the first decade of the second millennium.

ICT and ITS Emerging Innovation System in Tanzania

Questions to be met

– How can postcolonial ICT (Information and Communication Technology) exceed the dominating discourse of western technological determinism?

– How can postcolonial ICT meet the needs of developing countries?

– How can the ICT development at universities become a driving force for societal progress in developing countries?

– How can innovation systems including the role of universities be understood and developed in postcolonial situations?

– How can potentials for a triple helix model be dealt with?

These are questions for comprehensions on how ICT can be involved in local and national innovation systems in developing countries. Special attention is paid to the role of the university as an important stakeholder in local and national development processes as well as to the prerequisites for postcolonial identities to make their mark on a nationally situated ICT development and implementation. The discussion addresses the emerging implosion of postcolonial situations and ICT development.

Academic ICTs and their applications in society and every day life force our attention towards the relation between dominating actors, of which the university is one. It stresses not only the development of innovation systems but a relevant knowledge about its prerequisites resulting in transformation challenges for the traditional universities. The model explored for these processes is the triple helix model stating that the three institutional spheres university, industry and government are increasingly working together and co-evolve¹⁴⁵.

ICT and the role of universities - a technopolitical and postcolonial challenge

When ICT development issues are situated in the context of knowledge- and technology co-development between low and high income countries, the need for understandings and praxis of postcolonial ICT emerge and the challenges for the academy and its technical faculties increase. Relevance seems to be the multiple stemmed core concept and the change of position from merely transfer to co-development is strongly in demand.

This chapter elaborates how ICT can be involved in local and national innovation systems in developing countries with special attention to the role of the university as one of several driving forces for local and national development.

We can realize ICT as one of the technological science fields most evidently provoking the borders between academic research and political sector (Gulbrandsen 2000) and experience how the ‘negotiations’ (Aas 1999, 2000a, 2000b) about the character of academic research take place in society. This is evident also in a European context.

The challenges involved in ICT development and the role of universities are commented by means processes appeared in a Tanzanian context. It is a translation of situated knowledges at a specific time, namely the experiences and understanding of Tanzanians engaged in national ICT working in Dar es Salaam in 2003, namely professionals at University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), Civil Service Department of the President’s Office, Tanzania Telecoms Co Ltd (TTCL) and Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH). The comments are also based on own experiences as well as material from Sida SAREC and from UDSM.

The national ICT policy of Tanzania

In March 2003, a policy proposal was approved by the Cabinet and since then, Tanzania has a national information and communications technologies policy¹⁴⁶. The process for working out this policy started in the beginning of the year 2000 with an informal group sharing interests and visions of ICT to be successfully applied for Tanzania’s development. This informal group became the so called eThinkTank. In April 2001 the Cabinet designated the Ministry of Communications and Transport as the national focal point for ICT. In September the same year a national ICT Task Force was formed as a multi stakeholder partnership to advise the Government on an ICT policy using the eThinkTank’s inputs and Sida’s funding. The ICT Task Force had 15 members and was headed by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), professor Luhanga. The ICT policy process was open in order to have as many inputs as possible from persons with very different interests and perspectives. Drafts were circulated to the Government, members of parliament, private sector, academics and other stakeholders and even outside Tanzania. Drafts were also put on web pages for comments. The process incorporated regional and local political levels in Tanzania. In the stage of preparing the final draft a large meeting was held with 400 participants including persons from outside Tanzania like Sweden and Ethiopia.

The University of Dar es Salaam played a key role in the ICT policy process. The ICT Task Force was, as just mentioned, chaired by the Vice Chancellor of UDSM not only because of his official position but also because of his expert knowledge and engagement. Two skilled persons from the university staff were brought into the secretariat in order to formulate and write the drafts. The draft was developed in a very broad and open anchoring process and thus moderating the preferential right of interpretation of the academy. This role of UDSM furthermore can be viewed as an advanced technopolitical “negotiation” between the university and the Government. We have to keep in mind that the knowledge experts of ICT in Tanzania were at that time mostly located at UDSM or trained at the same place as the only institution having a technical faculty in the country¹⁴⁷.

The national ICT policy gives a substantial understanding of the status of ICT in Tanzania as well as emphasizing 10 strategic areas for ICT and development and is a very well formulated document. One of the central statements concerns the needs for Tanzania to move from being mere consumers of technology to the processes of being designers and manufacturers of ICT¹⁴⁸, which will be commented below.

The ICT policy stopped at chapter 4. Longer texts in earlier drafts were addressing more of implementation strategies. It is important to note that from the very beginning the Task Force agreed not to locate the organ to deal with the implementation of the ICT policy within the Government. The Task Force also wanted it to have enough authority to coordinate and oversee ICT issues in the 10 focus areas in both the public and private sectors. Designing such an organization proved to be a daunting task. Hence the decision by Cabinet to shorter this chapter and defer it until later did not come as a surprise but reflected the thinking of the Chairman and that of the majority in the Task Force. The policy states the following in chapter 4 concerning the implementation issue.

Because of the multifaceted nature of ICT issues and the factors that impact on them, the implementation of this policy, and the consequent achievement of its goals and objectives will be the responsibility of the entire government at all levels and in all sectors, working in close partnership with the private sector and civil society. There is therefore a need for the active participation and involvement of all individuals and national institutions. There is also a need of a strong commitment on the part of the political leadership of all kinds and at all levels. In order to effectively coordinate and harmonize efforts and activities undertaken by many institutions in different locations, there is a need to put a mechanism in place which will ensure that the policy is updated from time to time and that implementation strategies and plans are drawn and carried out in the most efficient and effective manner. The final goal should be the deployment of ICT in all sectors of the economy and to all communities in Tanzania.

The role of the university

Background

The University of Dar es Salaam was born out of a decision taken on March 25th, 1970, by the East African Authority, to split the then University of East Africa into three independent universities for Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The University of Dar es Salaam consisted in 2005 of six faculties and CoET (College if Engineering and Technology) including three engineering faculties (see below), five institutes and two university colleges: Faculty of Aquatic Science and Technology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Commerce and Management, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Science; Institute of Development Studies, Institute of Kiswahili Research, Institute of Marine Sciences, Institute of Resource Assessment, Institute of Mass Communication and Journalism; the University College of Lands and Architectural Studies (UCLAS) and the Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences (MUCHS). The University also operates a Library, University Computing Centre Ltd, Dar es Salaam University Press (DUP) Ltd and two centres; Centre for Continuing Education, Centre for Entreprenuership Development as well as concultancy activities within Economic Research Bureau and University Consultancy Bureau (UCB). Other centres were the African Virtual University Learning Centre (AVU-LC) offering degree, diploma and certificate courses in computer science using open and distance education platforms and the Technology Development Transfer Centre at CoET, the Instructional Technology Resources Unit (ITRU), which imparted skills to academic staff to enable then conduct online instruction. UCB handled consultancy at University level. There were other units at College, Faculty or Institute level e.g., the Bureau for Industrial Cooperation (BICO) and the Bureau for Education Research and Extension (BERE) all coordinated by UCB.

The context of the universities in post-colonial Africa must be considered with great care in order to understand the relations particularly between the University and the Government. Luhanga et al. (2003a) give an elucidative insight into the processes of transforming the colonial African universities to national universities. The situation was particularly precarious in a political situation characterized by single party states including Tanzania. The threat of increasing state repression to institutional autonomy became a reality for a number of universities. “State presidents became chancellors of public universities to ensure increased powers to curtail any opposition to their student enrolment expansion programmes or to handle any other politically motivated moves by African universities” (Luhanga et al. 2003a, p. 8). The appointment of the former Secretary General of the then ruling party TANU, as the first Vice Chancellor of the University of Dar es Salaam has been associated with the desire of the Party to entrench itself in university affairs in order to safeguard the interests of the peasants and workers of Tanzania (Luhanga et al. 2003b). This historical and political background implies a specific connotation of university autonomy. UDSM has been and is involved in a complex and delicate situation quite different from what is describing for universities in Europe (Nybom 2001). This Tanzanian context additionally contributes sharpening and multifaceted knowledge about the role of universities in societal development.

In the background presentation of the ICT cooperation between UDSM and Sida-SAREC the following is stated¹⁴⁹. “As part of the on going transformation program, the UDSM has initiated a number of reforms aimed at improving its main outputs (teaching, research and services to the society) through ICT. The improvement of ICT aims to suit the needs of the students and staff, the working environment and establish linkages with both industry and Government. The new ICT developments are also expected to contribute to income generation in order to complement Government and other funding sources to ensure sustainable academic programmes.”

Relevance

The Vice Chancellor emphasized that within the larger transformation activities of the university the issue of relevance becomes central to the mission of teaching, research and service to the communities. As far as possible, a public university in a very poor country must aim to be able to be relevant to the developmental aspiration of the people. Addressing development concerns means that the University must have impact on whatever area.

The transformation should go deeper in the academic culture, the Vice Chancellor argued. Out of the 16 objectives in the strategic plan of UDSM, one concerned the change of the organisation culture within the University. I must say it is not easy. If you want to bend a fish you bend it while it is still alive, before it is dry. If dry you crack it. We have come to learn that it is a bit difficult. We are still struggling with it.¹⁵⁰

At Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH), which is a Governmental body, certain reflections upon the role of the university can be found. A high level representative for COSTECH did not want technology to be an academic exercise. He thought the universities of Tanzania had not transformed themselves 100% to be more directed towards the user of society. The question of relevance seemed to be sensitive for COSTECH, which wanted to own that question. “We think that university should produce people who are relevant for us in the field, people who can challenge us in what we are doing, be catalytic in their activity, can conceptualize reality of things…. Many universities solve academic problems not practical problems.” Examples of preferred projects for students were databases of the villagers, repacking local knowledge and multimedia tool on cd. The Tanzanian perspectives were stressed.

COSTECH used to be a research council with a lot of assistance from Sida SAREC. The balance between research for the sake of research and research for development was difficult to handle. Certain circumstances contributed to a change of mission for COSTECH to have a much broader mandate. COSTECH was seen more as an umbrella institution connecting and transferring knowledge, science and technology with and to society.

UDSM as a national resource for ICT infrastructure

The experience of approving ICT at the University started in 1993 with the establishment of a university email system¹⁵¹.

Transfer of technology needs a special organization, like marketing intelligence in private sector, but nobody thought about that at the University. The beginning of the 90s was the time of the Internet entrance. It was UDSM, which brought Internet to the Tanzania telephone company (TTCL) and not the other way around. In many countries the telephone company gives access to the Internet to the university¹⁵². Internet powered the head quarter of the telephone company. However, in this period there was a lack of knowledge about Internet. Both the university staff and management clearly saw the benefits of Internet. A VSAT link was installed at the main campus of UDSM. In order to provide internet services to the University campuses outside the main campus, a radio link at 2 MBps was installed as well. TTCL headquarters was connected to the University network via the radio link. Ten years later Tanzania had Internet backbone in every region of the country. The challenge for the university 2003 was to look out on how to transfer the technology to the industry. As a result of the that process and the role of the university, expert people from UDSM became managers at TTCL.

The role of the University in supporting access to Internet and digital interconnections did not stop with TTCL. The university tried to extend the Internet service to Government departments. The Government could at the time of the introduction not pay the telephone bill. When TTCL started disconnecting the Government, the university decided to take the eight ministries out of the telephone network for Internet access and connect them with the wireless line at UDSM. They had to find alternative solutions.

Gradually, the prices for Internet access came down and several ISPs¹⁵³ entered the scene. When the university started to raise money for the services there was no licence system. Some years later the system was in place and the university competed with the other ISPs. The impact of the initiative coming from the university was an enhancement of the motivation for the university staff to keep on with ICT development. This technology was appreciated as exciting and they were the only people who knew. A somewhat parallel process of integrating the then Faculty of Engineering (FoE) with the then Institute of Production Innovation (IPI) to form the Prospective College of Engineering and Technology (pCET) with three new engineering faculties, was probably boosted by the initiatives. In 2005 pCET got its formal status as College of Engineering and Technology (CoET). The university staff engaged was eager to see Tanzania on the map, as they knew how to build the systems. The Government as well as the University was trying to find the easiest way to implement the Government’s own processes and demands, which were monitoring, evaluation and easy communication. UDSM was trying to provide that kind of solutions.

The technology transfer role of UDSM is explicitly defined. The University started the development by investing heavily in ICT at the University in terms of human resources, infrastructure and software. It was made possible by donor funding and own efforts. After less than 4 years of implementation, UDSM recognised the ICT development not to be sustainable. They had to find ways and mechanisms to bring in more resources than the Government and donor funding could provide. The ICT services included 24 hours network, with all the systems depending on it. The Computing Centre of UDSM started to use the extra capacity to tap private resources back to the university. The Computing Centre became a registered company owned by the University. This arrangement was also established as a result of critique from private companies, which thought the Centre was not paying taxes neither being legal. Because the Centre was a company the university could transfer all the technologies and expertise they had. They had some of the best people in network and hold the biggest network in the country – wireless, fibre, databases etc. An example of services provided by the Computing Centre was a network for the whole airport system in the country, a contract obtained in open competition. They were designing the system and others were constructing. The Centre was also conducting a project of developing a system for socio economic databases for the local authorities for the whole country. The same data was used by the regional administration and imported at ministry level.

It has been stressed (Mutagahywa 2003) that two factors were dominant for the development of ICT at UDSM. The first one was the existence of a University ICT policy and master plan widely accepted. The ICT policy was approved by UDSM in 1995 and implementations started in 1996. The second important factor was the championship of and support by the top management of UDSM.

CoET at UDSM

As CoET was a key actor in the emerging ICT sector in Tanzania and as contexts of my main concern is situated at faculties of technologies, I am going into some details when it comes to CoET.

The Faculty of Engineering was established in 1973. Its integration with the Institute of Production Innovation in 2001 resulted in the establishment of the Prospective College of Engineering and Technology – pCET, which received its formal status as College of Engineering and Technology (CoET) in 2005. The faculties within pCET were Civil Engineering and the Built Environment, Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering. In September 2003, the number of undergraduate students was about 1350, while the number of postgraduate students was 171. At the same time there were 36 PhD students including 4 female. The aim was to have at least 10% of undergraduates continuing to postgraduate studies. The number of staff was 110, of whom almost 80% held a PhD degree. Consultancy work was favoured by the staff and was coordinated by the College’s Bureau for Industrial Cooperation (BICO)¹⁵⁴ as an organ of CoET and thus part of UDSM.

The main motive for CoET was to fulfil one step of the university strategy of reducing a lot of duplication and pooling of the resources in order to become strong in the technology area. CoET can be seen as leading the process of gathering resources at UDSM.

The basic objectives of CoET were:

• to supply the country with sufficient middle and high level engineering human-power as agents of development and change, thus contributing to the domestic development of infrastructure, industry and trade,
• to perform research in the interest of suitable exploitation and local processing of natural resources in Tanzania, ultimately leading to the innovation of technical products and production processes for the local industry, and
• to provide expert professional services in the form of consultancy to industry as well as public and private organisations and institutions.

The core issues for ICT implementation from the perspectives of CoET were

• technical staff, educate technicians
• reach the remote areas
• content, what do you do after technical infrastructure
• long term agenda for UDSM was to increase the output. In campus to get distant students and distant education also within the campus.

ICT literacy was very much in demand, which meant respective graduates from CoET were absorbed very fast by the industry after receiving their bachelor degree. The demand was expected to be even higher, when reaching also the rural areas. There was a big problem, the biggest headache for CoET, to keep good students for research and academic career in order to build the capacity needed at the faculties. Professors found themselves lucky to remain with those students who really want to stay at the university, about 1 of 10. The students concerned found jobs better paid than at the university. The motive to have a PhD in ICT was further decreased by the lack of interest from the private sector to appreciate staff with a PhD degree.

In January 2011 the College of information and communication technologies (CoICT) was a established. The activities at CoICT was until then part of CoET.

University Government relations

As indicated above, the relation between UDSM and Government showed some complications. The actual political situation in Tanzania with introduction of global market economy and multi party system was changing this relation. Not the least the national ICT policy process in Tanzania showed other kinds of links between the University and the Government, both on a knowledge sharing level and on a personal level as mentioned above. In addition, the Minister of Communication and Transport at the time was a professor from UDSM. You find professionals that in the same person hold competences as ICT experts trained at the university, as former employed experts at ministries and as managers in ICT related companies partly privatized. That person was in her/himself an innovation system. In a country of scarce resources and with knowledge and technical skills concentrated in one institution - that is the University - this situation was not unique and held certain potentials.

Governmental support to higher education and research

Only undergraduate studies at universities in Tanzania were supported by the Government including allowance for transports, books etc. Postgraduate studies were managed by the university itself. There had been no fees for higher education. The system was at the time in a transformation stage. The Government decreased the number of grants as well as allowances, hoping individuals were willing take over. The conflicts, which arose, were somewhat met by introducing higher education on loan basis for students, who could not afford a fee and living expenses during studies. The university assisted the Government in drafting an umbrella bill for this purpose.

Tanzania had no national research funds. For development of research there was no money from the Government, which only sponsored undergraduate (bachelor) – on a decreasing level. The Committee of Vice Chancellors had put forward proposals to the Government in this matter. Sida SAREC firmly stated¹⁵⁵ that support would be continued only if the Government through relevant Ministries was willing to engage in a dialogue on the role of research and knowledge for Tanzanian development, and if this dialogue was reflected in strategic interventions from the Government. At CoET they were looking at the evolving research financing system in South Africa. An East Africa regional cooperation in research financing was though to come on a later stage.

The ICT infrastructure issue

From the Governmental side it was stressed that a lot had to be exploited. For instance, how to link up the very important institutions in the country like the major hospitals?

In 2001, a conference was held at UDSM concerning networks between the University and the Government itself and other training institutions as well as telecom companies. The question was, if the University took a leading role, would the others follow? There was a potential with an institutional arrangement linking to universities and other institutions and thus helping to develop their own capacity. At the same time, it was cheaper to run and develop from the old networks.

For ICT implementation processes in society, University computing centres were distributed to different places. Pilot centres for distant education, mostly short courses, were already in place for instance in Arusha, Mwanza and Dodoma.

University Industry relations

The engineering education and the results of university activities are vital for the Tanzanian industry. At the same time, it is important to learn about the needs of the industry, to have relevant feedback from the stakeholders and from the students. CoET at UDSM decided to work that out, regularly every 5 years, in order to find out whether they moved in the right direction or not and look at research and other activities for relevance. UDSM invited the Government and the industry for discussions. It meant a revised curriculum every 5 year. However, Tanzanian industry is young and there is a lack of response. The industry was often recognized to be unable to interact with the university. The situation was connected to the change from socialist to market economy system. In the private sector, few companies had been able to stabilize. We need close cooperation. If we play a too dominant role they will run away from us. We have to calm down. When they are doing their own things, we should establish contact and accommodate. Then they will appreciate us. Though, it is rather uncomplicated with the industry compared to the Government.¹⁵⁶

The University is in different ways connected to innovative production at the industry. For SMEs it has a double effect with employment of graduates. Industry is recognized to be changing to more sophisticated activities and open for more interaction. Some researchers and faculties were directly assisting different industry sectors like mining, agriculture, fishing and manufacturing. UDSM had an Entrepreneurship Centre. As thoroughly presented by Mwamila, Katalambula (2004) and briefly commented by Diyamett (2004), CoET had two major outlets for technology development and innovation – Bureau for Industrial Cooperation (BICO)¹⁵⁷ and Technology Development and Transfer Centre (TDTC)¹⁵⁸. BICO was focusing consultancy and services while TDTC focused technology development and transfer with the important role of technology brokerage.

When raising the questions about consuming and producing ICT in Tanzania, situated experiences from mixed perspectives were bringing alternative strategies. “In order to be active on the production side, the easiest way is to make ourselves credible as big consumers.”¹⁵⁹ This strategy had somewhat started in the Government finding retail levels like the reduction of taxes on computer equipments. Bringing down the prices meant support the local second hand market. When the big manufactures got an order on for instance 50 000 computers, they would be sniffing around to find out how to improve computers design for the Tanzanian environment (dust proof, water proof). A disadvantage could be turned into an advantage. There was no lack of interest among manufacturers in this respect.

Another line concerned the problems in the education system. The students did not have the skills the market needed. One company person stated that you have to go finding the right skills in Kenya. If ICT and education were not driven by the demand side, there had to be a rethinking in the education system. The transformation of teacher training was crucial as well.

For the subject of science there was a major problem. It was neglected in secondary schools as the resources were (are) scarce. The Faculty of Science had started producing B.Sc. (Ed) graduates one of whose major subject was computer science. These were earmarked to be teachers of computer science in secondary schools.

Under the Secondary Education Development Plan (SEDP) the Government had already made a decision to convert two Teachers’ Training Colleges into Constituent College of the University of Dar es Salaam.

Emerging ICT innovation systems

It is not self evident to use a concept like innovation system in a Tanzanian context, first of all because it is originally a western formulation and experience. Secondly because the situated relevance of the concept is still to be evolved as the ICT discourse is extremely western dominated with few cracks in favour of African situated interpretations and experiences.

As a starting point for discussions an understanding of ICT innovation system as a function or process of close cooperation between the Government (national or local), the University and private sector made some sense. The ICT Task Force was interpreted as unique concerning partnership. The three main stakeholders mentioned met in the Task Force and produced a joint policy supporting this kind of cooperative thinking. Persons active in the Task Force emphasized the need to educate the private sector to be patient. The impatience of private sector was a true challenge as the Government was experienced as a very slow moving machine. Initiatives from private sector were more likely to be reshaped by the ministry. Harmonizing the different interests not the least the ones of keeping status quo in order to defend old privileges is not easy. Adding the interests of the university makes the situation even more complicated.

The University was regarded if not as the major stakeholder in this system so at least, in the actual situation of a severe shortage of trained professionals, one of the most important. “The institutions of higher learning, such as universities, have a major role to play in generation of knowledge that enables smooth functioning of national technological capacity.” This was a statement at an opening address by the Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Hon. Dr Pius Y. Ng’wandu (MP) on the occasion of the Regional Conference on Innovation Systems and Innovative Clusters in Africa hosted by UDSM, at Bagamoyo¹⁶⁰.

A very practical example of an ICT innovation system in Tanzania is what happened at the Tanzanian Telecommunication Company Limited (TTCL). TTCL was a state-owned company. After privatization the Tanzanian state was still the major owner. Although the monopoly of TTCL was expected by TTCL to disappear within a year or two, it had a lead of operating the national network. The interests of the Government and of the appurtenant private sector were connected to the University in the following way at TTCL. TTCL was used for research and training as well as connectivity for the University. Some master students were funded by TTCL. The project work of the students constituted pilots implying mutual learning for the students and TTCL. They jointly captured important knowledge. The University and TTCL joined hands in being employers with a number of students working at TTCL. In addition TTCL paid a professor chair at UDSM. The need for mutual development was recognized and supported by having University research trained people as managers at TTCL.

A number of University professors considered the private sector to be very unfair. The sector did not want to invest in research for mutual development. The companies were only looking for graduates sponsored by someone else, leaving the whole burden to the Government. The professors gave example of one firm with an opposite attitude. The firm was a mobile phone operator having the opinion that down the road the firm is sure to need graduates to take up some jobs. They were prepared but still planning to take over the support for these students for 2 years up to bachelor. Contacts between the company and students were established. This was a kind of new model the company wanted to keep secret in order to have a competition advantage compared to other companies wanting the same students.

Another alternative wished for was the private sector to team up with the University. Instead the sector cooperated with foreign consultants. The question about why they went for foreign consultants, when they had local consultants was raised. The private sector argued the income taxes should provide resources for education and research.

Many can agree with the professor at UDSM stating that Tanzania university heritage rest a lot of western world way of knowing things. The same is for the industry and the Government in particular. The changes in Tanzania were not yet stabilized. The Government was unable to comprehend things and cope with the open trends. Generally, the University and the engineering sector had a strong relationship with the Government from the beginning. The sector depended on the Government and appreciated the role of the Government recognising training of students as an input to the development of the country. It was considered important that the University was involved in the policy and the strategy development.

ICT implementation in a postcolonial situation

Acute issues for ICT implementation could be identified in the fact that there was no real owner at high political level. The Ministry of Communications and Transports was coordinating the efforts to find the appropriate owner, who could channel all the efforts. A Governmental voice said the issue was not whether you had a ministry as an owner or not. ICT is a matter for many ministries. What was needed was a matrix function for integration of ICT. People running the matrix should be innovative. Another issue was funding. Government as the largest employer should be the largest provider in order to reduce the uneven distribution of connections. Concerning ICT infrastructure one idea suggested was to utilize other sectors to build networks like combining with railways construction and maintenance work in order to avoid waste due to duplication.

The University performed a lot more in terms of infrastructure and hardware development. Very little priority was given to the content area like local content even in educational institutions. Situated development in these areas was suggested to be pushed by organisations like East Africa Community, Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the African Union. You might not have the critical mass in one country to address the issues. You can do it more efficiently on a regional level. Addressing context sensitive content development was considered to be a major regional issue.

When integrating ICT in development programs, low income countries like Tanzania are necessarily disadvantaged. The partnerships Tanzania goes into are not necessarily going to be in its favour. One of the persons interviewed stressed that “it is very unfortunate that computers came to Africa as prestigious tools, as elite, sophisticated tools and not as non rocket signs. This is a myth that came with them. Computers are just ordinary technology, much easier than automobile and more powerful than automobiles, because they are all knowledge based. Knowledge based technologies transform individuals. Many have a lot of interest in them. The West pushed computers as tools for private sector. That this is not true was not understood by the Government …It all depends on how you look at things within your own country… This element of articulation is what we need to do. We have to do a lot of trying around, pilots, a lot of talking with people.”

The expansive force in the wireless telecom sector shows how high an ICT potential can be in Tanzania. We face an almost technical revolution experienced in Tanzania by the implementation and use of mobile phones with prepay function. Such a technology for direct communication between people seems to be appreciated as appropriate, relevant and affordable by a larger group of people than the income strong elite. Like in other African countries, mobile phone use has rocketed in Tanzania. Estimated market penetration rates in Tanzania’s telecoms sector 2015 was for mobile 75%, fixed line 0,3%, internet (3G, 4G) 26%¹⁶¹.

Emerging innovation system in a Mkukuta¹⁶² context

ICT is a strong driving force for a number of transformation processes in societal development. In this chapter I have tried to focus on ICT as a trigger for making the role of university in a postcolonial context crucial and for the university to be understood as an equal partner in economic, technical, cultural and political transformation in society. Focusing ICT also enables us to realize potentials in building innovation systems – a capacity building, which must be done with a context sensitive approach. More specifically I have tried to elaborate the role of the technical faculties and other ICT related bodies at UDSM, as they are in the core of the whole ICT process.

A number of stakeholders are involved in making things happen indicating the issue of ICT to be much more than a question of technical infrastructure and technical systems, particularly when entrenched in emerging innovation systems. Experiences from Tanzania show how the introduction of ICT for instance in the form of Internet communication is a delicate process of technopolitical as well as more general political dimensions. Technical faculties and top management at the universities have been active and initiative taking partners. However, in the complex web of material, cultural, social and economic actors¹⁶³ within ICT development, one of the key issues is accessibility for low income countries and poor women and men. Opening up for and increasing access to information, knowledge and communication via ICT is a non-linear process.

A postcolonial situation emphasizes the concern of relevance. The Vice Chancellor of UDSM is explicit about relevance as the central mission for the assignments of the University – research, teaching and services to the communities. To be relevant in a bigger context than the traditional “ivory tower” context of universities means a number of challenging impacts on the university and its transformation ambitions. This huge issue is fully recognized in the context of developmental universities and mode 2 research practitioners. The recognition is met with forceful resistance by the university establishment in the West - as expected. However, our increasingly complex realities in a globalized world are there and cannot be denied. A postcolonial country like Tanzania has advanced potentials to meet the challenges of relevance and be in the forefront when it comes to the transformation assignments all universities face in a knowledge and technology dependent society.

If we use the triple helix model just as a simple way of recognizing the cooperating practices, where the university has one of the active roles, the relation between the university and the Government becomes a complicated balance act. This balance act is different in many but not all aspects from the situation in for instance Sweden and is due to the history of universities in former colonized countries. The situated knowledge about UDSM is carried by Luhanga et al. (2003a,b) and is an imperative reminder for me and others of the vital importance of context dependence of every effort of ICT development and knowledge system transformation.

A fourth actor, beside the three main actors, university, industry and government, in the triple helix model for technology development, has been recognized in “technology-related intermediary institutions”¹⁶⁴. This forth actor points to the importance of a broker function. The broker role including knowledge management is often overlooked in the processes of cooperation between industry, university and government, not the least in a north European context. It is interesting that this function is identified at a Tanzanian context and strengthened by the account that the institutions of higher learning, such as universities, have a major role to play in generation of knowledge that enables smooth functioning of the actual cooperation processes. We find the vital broker and the linked transforming functions also within the main actors and as noticed at CoET and other parts of UDSM in the first decade of 2000.

The ambitions of UDSM and the Government of Tanzanian (in the National ICT Policy) to foster ICT for poverty elevation and societal development were (are) serious and have a recognized steerage-way. Acknowledging the postcolonial context hold vital potentials for innovative advantages as well as turning the western ICT expert discourse upside down.