Futuristic UNZA, INFRATEL innovation hub building e-Zambia
UNZA–INFRATEL Innovation Hub (iHub), a national platform where research, creativity, and technology converge to shape Zambia’s digital future. - Picture by INFRATEL Zambia
By Hellen Bwalya
The University of Zambia (UNZA) Great East Road Campus, in partnership with INFRATEL Corporation Limited, has officially launched the UNZA–INFRATEL Innovation Hub (iHub), a national platform where research, creativity, and technology converge to shape Zambia’s digital future.
The launch marks a decisive shift in Zambia’s development journey; from connectivity to creativity, from access to application, and from consuming solutions to designing and exporting them.
In a keynote address delivered on his behalf by the Director of Communications, Mr. Bwanga Leslie Mbula, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Technology and Science, Engineer Dr. Brilliant Habeenzu described the iHub as a critical national milestone aligned to Vision 2030, the 8th National Development Plan, and the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy. Eng. Dr.
Habeenzu emphasised that the hub strengthens research–industry collaboration and is supported by innovation financing instruments such as the Hakainde Hichilema Innovation Fund (HHIF).
The UNZA Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mundia Muya, described the iHub as more than a facility, a strategic instrument for national transformation. Through incubation, acceleration and seed funding, the hub will empower innovators to transition from job-seeking to job creation, while strengthening intellectual property development and research commercialisation.
From INFRATEL’s leadership, the message was equally resolute.
INFRATEL Board Chairperson, Mr. Stein Liyanda, declared the iHub a national statement, signalling Zambia’s shift from importing solutions to designing and exporting its own innovations.
Liyanda reaffirmed INFRATEL’s commitment to providing mentorship, infrastructure, and pathways to market for young innovators.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Evans Silavwe positioned the iHub as INFRATEL’s research and innovation engine, a space driving artificial intelligence, data analytics, robotics, and IoT for real-world national applications. “We are moving from infrastructure to intelligence,” Dr. Silavwe said.
Designed as a national co-creation platform, the iHub will develop solutions across agriculture, healthcare, financial inclusion, smart cities, cybersecurity and education, directly aligned to Zambia’s digital transformation agenda.
For INFRATEL, the iHub deepens its role as a national digital enabler.
For UNZA, it redefines the future of higher education.
For Zambia, it signals the rise of a homegrown innovation economy.
Here, the future is no longer something to wait for; it is being built.
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