Science and technology in Botswana

The Republic of Botswana has one of the longest post-independence histories of political stability in Africa. A multiparty democracy, it is deemed the continent's best-performing country by the Corruption Perceptions Index and ranked third in 2014 in the Ibrahim Index of African Governance. At the time of independence in 1966, Botswana was one of the poorest countries in the world. A year later, diamonds were discovered and have since become a pillar of the economy. Between 2009 and 2013, GDP per capita rose from $12,404 to $15,247 (in purchasing power parity dollars, 2011 constant prices), boosted by the global commodity boom, corresponding to a leap of 23 percent in GDP per capita over that period. Within the SADC region, only the Seychelles and Mauritius have higher levels of average income. Diversifying the economy was made a priority of the Tenth National Development Plan for 2009 to 2016, with the government considering private-sector participation critical and R&D the most effective way of fuelling entrepreneurship. In 2010, the government published its Economic Diversification Drive. In 2011, it revised the Companies Act to allow company registration without company secretaries, reducing start-up costs, and introduced a points-based system to allow skilled expatriates to work in Botswana. == Science, technology and innovation policy ==

National innovation system Botswana is considered as having an evolving national innovation system. It was ranked 87th in the Global Innovation Index in 2025. The following table shows the status of national innovation systems across the Southern African Development Community as assessed in 2015. Source: Mbula-Kraemer, Erika and Scerri, Mario (2015) Southern Africa. In: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030. UNESCO, Paris, Table 20.5. National science and technology policy In 2008, the Minister of Communication, Science and Technology requested UNESCO's assistance in reviewing the country's first Science and Technology Policy, which dated from 1998. Botswana published its updated National Policy on Research, Science and Technology in 2011, within a UNESCO project sponsored by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development. The Botswana Academy of Sciences was launched in November 2015. Digital legislation (2025) In August 2025, Botswana's Parliament passed two significant pieces of digital legislation. The Digital Services Bill promotes equitable access to affordable digital services, particularly in underserved communities, and establishes a framework for a Digital Services Authority. The Cybersecurity Bill establishes structures to promote cybersecurity capacity building across the country. Both bills mark a significant step in the formalisation of Botswana's digital regulatory environment. AI policy In 2025, Botswana's government was working on a national Artificial Intelligence policy following an AI Readiness Foundation initiative undertaken in partnership with UNESCO, which assessed the country's readiness in terms of methods, inclusivity, security, and alignment with national development goals. The Vice President, Ndaba Gaolathe, described the government's strategy as building an ecosystem for AI, fintech, agritech, cleantech, and health tech, with investment in infrastructure, talent, and policy support. == Telecommunications ==

Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (1980) The Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) was established in 1980 as a 100 percent government-owned parastatal to provide, develop, operate, and manage Botswana's national and international telecommunications services. For its first sixteen years, BTC operated as the sole telecommunications provider in the country. Its network was built on an all-digital microwave and fibre optic system with digital exchanges at the main centres, comprising 7,300 kilometres of microwave radio and fibre optic links. Liberalisation and mobile competition (1996 to 1999) In 1996, an amendment of the BTC Act repealed BTC's monopoly and introduced competition through two cellular joint venture consortiums: Mascom Wireless and Vista Communications, later renamed Orange Botswana. Both were awarded fifteen-year mobile operating licences with a ten-year exclusivity period. The Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA), initially established as the Botswana Telecommunications Authority, was created as the sector regulator. The first Internet Service Provider licences were also issued during this period. In 1999, the BTA simultaneously licensed Botswana's first two commercial FM radio stations, Yarona FM and Gabz FM. Privatisation and expansion (2000s to 2010s) In 2006, the government decided to privatise BTC. Parliament enacted the BTC (Transition) Act in 2008, creating Botswana Fibre Networks (BoFiNet) as a wholesale provider of national and international telecommunications infrastructure while BTC remained a retail operator. In 2008, BTC launched its own mobile network under the brand name beMOBILE. On 1 November 2012, BTC was formally converted from a statutory body into a public company limited by shares and renamed Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTCL), becoming the first state-owned enterprise to be privatised through a stock exchange listing when it listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange in 2016. The government currently holds 54.16 percent of issued share capital. In 2018, Parliament passed the Data Protection Act establishing the Information and Data Protection Commission, enshrining the right of citizens to access their personal data and to object to its processing. == Higher education and research ==

Universities In 2014, Botswana had two public and seven private universities. The University of Botswana is primarily a teaching institution. The Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST), which welcomed its first 267 students in September 2012, is a research university. By the 2018/2019 academic year there were 1,881 students enrolled at BIUST, 33 percent of whom were women. BIUST's research focus areas include remote sensing of natural resources and the environment, sustainable energy and resource beneficiation, solar energy materials, applied nuclear sciences and technology, bioinformatics, data science and high performance computing, and artificial intelligence and smart systems. Among SADC countries, Botswana committed the second-largest share of GDP to expenditure on education (9.5 percent) after Lesotho in 2009, and devoted the largest share of GDP to higher education expenditure (3.9 percent) after Lesotho. Between 2006 and 2011, the number of students enrolled in higher education rose from 22,257 to 39,894. Spending on R&D as a share of GDP rose to 0.54 percent in 2013, the most recent year with data as of 2021. Despite the modest level of financial investment, Botswana counts one of the highest researcher densities in sub-Saharan Africa at 344 researchers per million inhabitants, compared to an average of 91 per million across sub-Saharan Africa in 2013. One in four Botswana researchers (27 percent) was a woman in 2012. Women researchers had almost obtained parity in medical sciences by 2013 (44 percent) and were well represented in social sciences and humanities (38 percent) and natural sciences (28 percent), but remained rare in engineering (8 percent). Scientific publishing The number of publications by Botswana scientists catalogued in international databases increased from 133 to 210 between 2009 and 2014 according to Thomson Reuters' Web of Science. In 2018, there were 281 scientific and technical journal articles originating from Botswana. Botswana has one of the highest levels of scientific productivity per capita in sub-Saharan Africa, behind South Africa. Between 2008 and 2014, scientists from Botswana collaborated primarily with peers from the United States, followed by South Africa, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany. == Botswana Digital and Innovation Hub ==

The Botswana Digital and Innovation Hub (BDIH), also known as the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH), is Botswana's first science and technology park. It is a government parastatal under the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, located on a 57-hectare site near Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in Gaborone. The hub was conceptualised as part of the Botswana Excellence Strategy of 2008, which set out national goals of economic diversification and transitioning toward a knowledge-based economy. Its buildings were designed by SHoP Architects of New York. The centrepiece of the government's economic diversification strategy has been the development of six innovation hubs. These include an agricultural hub, the Botswana Diamond Hub (with a Diamond Technology Park established in Gaborone in 2009), the BDIH as the flagship innovation hub, an education hub, a health hub, and a transport hub. By the end of 2012, the BDIH's governing bodies had approved and registered 17 entities to operate in the park, covering areas including ICT applications, diamond jewellery design, mining exploration technologies, and software development. BDIH works across five priority sectors: mining technology, biotechnology, cleantech, information and communications technology, and indigenous knowledge. Its programmes include the Botswana Innovation Fund, which began in 2018 and distributes grants to technology-based startups (its first call allocated BWP 5.6 million to seven projects including an Intelligent Traffic Management System), the BOOST UP Programme supporting early-stage startups using technology to address social challenges across southern Africa, and partnerships with organisations including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Kuo Sharper Centre, which began an eleven-week business incubation programme in partnership with BDIH in 2025. Over 2017 to 2018, the hub supported more than 100 startups. == BOTSAT-1 and space technology ==

BOTSAT-1 (Botswana Satellite 1) is the first satellite developed and operated by Botswana. It was launched on 15 March 2025 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Transporter-13 rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, bringing Africa's total satellite count to 65. The satellite is a 3U CubeSat built by Bulgarian satellite manufacturer EnduroSat in collaboration with engineers from BIUST. The program was conceptualized around 2020 and developed without a formal space agency, with BIUST taking on the role that a space agency would normally play. The project was led by Dr Dimane Mpoeleng as Project Lead and Dr Modisa Mosalaosi as Lead Engineer, and involved approximately 80 volunteers including 10 postgraduate students. BIUST engineers completed the Assembly, Integration and Testing phase at EnduroSat's facilities in Sofia, Bulgaria, in September 2024. The total project cost was approximately US$2.19 million over four years, funded by an annual government commitment of BWP 33 million through the Ministry of Communications and Innovation and the Ministry of Higher Education. BOTSAT-1 carries the Mantis Hyperspectral Imager, manufactured by South African company Dragonfly Aerospace, providing a spatial resolution of approximately 12 meters and a swath width of 32 kilometers. It completes approximately six orbital passes over Botswana per day and transmits data to BIUST's ground station in Palapye, upgraded to X-band capability at a cost of approximately US$200,000. Applications include precision agriculture, mineral mapping for the mining sector, environmental monitoring, disaster management, and urban planning. Botswana's President Duma Boko attended the launch as part of a working visit to the United States. The first signal received from BOTSAT-1 after deployment was a transmission of the Botswana national anthem in Setswana. A school outreach program run around the same time brought 350 students from 34 senior secondary schools to participate in satellite tracking and simulation activities. Following the success of BOTSAT-1, the government confirmed plans for BOTSAT-2, led by BIUST and supported by BITRI, intended to offer more advanced Earth observation capabilities. BIUST also launched a Master's Program in Space Engineering and Technology with international exchange opportunities to sustain a pipeline of space engineering graduates. == Financial technology ==

The Fintech Association of Botswana (FAB), also known as Fintechs Botswana, is a non-profit industry association established in 2020 to connect participants in Botswana's financial technology sector, including banks, insurance companies, telecommunications companies, startups, and regulators. It is a member of the Africa Fintech Network. The association has worked to establish fintech offices within the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) and the Bank of Botswana, contributing to a more defined regulatory framework for the sector. In 2024, FAB became the first member of the Alliance of Digital Finance and Fintech Associations (DFA) to complete all requirements of the DFA Accelerator Programme, receiving the Certificate of Proficiency from the Alliance. Botswana's mobile money market had 1.8 million subscriptions by December 2023, up from 1.65 million a year earlier. Mobile money services are provided by Orange Money (Orange Botswana), MyZaka (Mascom), Smega (BTCL), and Poso Money (BotswanaPost). Orange Money held approximately 53 percent market share as of early 2024. == STEM education and innovation programs ==

BrainSTREAM Institute of Technology is a Botswana-based educational technology company delivering robotics, coding, and STEM education to children and teachers. Its teacher training course is accredited by the Human Resource Development Council of Botswana (HRDC) and has trained over 100 educators in Botswana and the region. BrainSTREAM is an outreach partner of BDIH for FIRST Lego League teacher training and participates in the All Schools Robotics Make-a-Thon Convention, an annual multi-school event in Gaborone supported by First National Bank Botswana. In 2025, BrainSTREAM extended its holiday camp model into five cities in South Africa and announced robotics and coding camps in Harare, Zimbabwe. The Women in Tech Accelerator Program (WiT Botswana), run jointly by Standard Chartered Botswana and Dream Factory Foundation Botswana, supports women-led businesses in technology, fintech, agritech, e-commerce, and health innovation. It began in 2024 and distributes seed funding through annual cohorts. The second cohort in November 2025 distributed over P700,000 in seed funding to six businesses across sectors including events technology, climate-smart agriculture, digital services, agritech logistics, livestock farming, and ethical fashion. The Botswana Mobile and Internet Summit (BITMIS), launched in 2022 by director Phuthego Chere, is an annual technology conference held at the University of Botswana Conference Centre in Gaborone. The summit addresses four concurrent streams: Cyber Security Summit, Cyber Security Masterclass, Botswana Developers Conference, and Artificial Intelligence Conference. It was established to address the absence of a functioning developer community and improve the quality of IT education in the country. == Innovation competitions ==

Orange Innovation Day, hosted annually by Orange Botswana, brings together technology innovators working on solutions to social challenges and distributes prize funding through two competitions: the Orange Social Venture Prize (OSVP) and the Orange Summer Challenge (OSC). The 2024 edition distributed over P180,000 to winning teams across sectors including mobile services for underserved communities, educational technology, and road safety. == Sustainable development ==

In 2012, Botswana was one of ten African countries that adopted the Gaborone Declaration for Sustainability in Africa at the Summit for Sustainability in Africa. The signatories recognized that GDP has limitations as a measure of well-being and committed to integrating the value of natural capital into national accounting and corporate planning processes. == Regional policy framework ==

Botswana is one of only four SADC countries which had ratified the SADC Protocol on Science, Technology and Innovation (2008) by 2015. Ten of the 15 SADC countries must ratify the protocol for it to enter into force. The protocol promotes legal and political cooperation and stresses the importance of science and technology for achieving sustainable and equitable socio-economic growth and poverty eradication. The Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan for 2005 to 2020 identifies 12 priority areas for regional intervention. Its STI-related targets included raising gross domestic expenditure on R&D to at least 1 percent of GDP by 2015 and achieving 100 percent connectivity to the regional power grid for all member states by 2012. A 2013 mid-term review noted limited progress toward STI targets, owing to the lack of human and financial resources at the SADC Secretariat. In June 2014, SADC ministers adopted the SADC Regional Strategic Plan on Science, Technology and Innovation for 2015 to 2020 to guide implementation of regional programs. == See also ==