Rwanda has released its first Rwanda Innovation Survey (2022–2024), marking a major step in understanding and strengthening the country’s innovation landscape.
The survey, disseminated by the National Council for Science and Technology (NCST) on November 4, 2025, reveals that higher education institutions are among the most innovation-active sectors in the country, alongside the government.

According to the findings:
89% of higher education institutions are actively engaged in innovation.

86.1% introduced new innovations between 2022 and 2024.

77.8% have an innovation strategy in place.

52.8% allocate a dedicated budget for innovation activities.

Speaking at the launch, Minister of Education, Joseph Nsengimana, commended the milestone and called for stronger collaboration across sectors to boost Rwanda’s innovation ecosystem.

“Rwanda’s innovation ecosystem is growing, but we need to address investment and skills gaps. By working closely across government, academia, and industry, we can bridge research and commercialization and expand Rwanda’s innovation internationally,” said Minister Nsengimana.

He reminded that overall investment in innovation remains low, with business enterprises dedicating less than 1% of their annual turnover to innovation activities. 

“Most innovations are service-related and domestically focused, and human capacity gaps persist. These findings call for deeper collaboration to bridge research and commercialization, and to internationalize Rwanda’s innovation output,” he said.

                                       Awording the best 5 Researchers 

NCST Executive Secretary, Eugene Mutimura, noted that the “survey provides vital baseline data to understand Rwanda’s innovation landscape from key challenges to investment trends helping guide evidence-based policies and partnerships that strengthen national innovation capacity”.