Khartoum: Awatif Idris
Scientific research plays a pivotal role in developing different industries and products and directly contributes to developing the economy and to the advance of various countries.
Despite the existence of bodies and departments for scientific research in Sudan, its contributions are still weak and without aspirations for researchers, business leaders and industrial and agricultural sectors, as the state has not delivered policies and clear plans to take advantage of the various research bodies and the development of scientific research for scientists and specialists. In testimonies of the (Afro Shingr) website, the researcher, founder and director of the Ghreen Engineering Center ,Dr. Omar Abdul-Razig, who graduated from the Department of Electronic Engineering at the Sudan University of Science and Technology, specializing in communications engineering, brought to light a number of obstacles facing researchers stressing on the importance of research in developing industries and technology in Sudan.
Dr. abdul- razig , would you please inform us about Al-Ghreen Engineering Center;the purpose of its establishment and the services it provides to the local market and those who are interested?
Al-Ghreen Engineering, which means silt (which is the equivalent of the term “Al-Qurair” in the Sudanese dialect), was established in September 2016 as a designer, developer and manufacturer of innovative and low-cost technical solutions in the fields of electronic platforms for development, training, laboratory and scientific devices in order to participate effectively in the development of information technology, communications and electromechanical industries in Sudan. Al- Ghreen Engineering provides design services, development and manufacture of electronic platforms for development and training, scientific and laboratory equipment at low cost, and the design and implementation of single and two-sided PCB printed electronic boards besides human resource development through applied training periods in the areas of communications, electronic design, integrated systems and others, in addition to providing technical advice in related fields.
What are the most important works and projects that Al-Ghreen Engineering has implemented and the extent to which the market accepted them as local industries?
Within the framework of Al-Ghreen Engineering’s vision and mission, it has carried out several projects. The most important amongst are the design and production of the evaporative air conditioner control panel and the microcontroller development type AVR (starting) and many electronic platform boards, in addition to providing electronic printing services to many industrial and research institutions and pioneering business, inventors and hobbyists.
As for the acceptance of the market towards the center’s products, the Sudanese market has room for all ideas due to the diversity of customers, especially products related to technology regarding the necessity of quality and the appropriate price for the national product, and this is what Al -Ghreen Engineering is doing.
What about the importance of research in the development and promotion of industries and small enterprises in Sudan?
Sudan is classified as one of the third world countries, which must rely on its industrial and agricultural economics on manufacturing industries and the primary manufacture of industrial and agricultural raw materials (plant and animal) to create added value for the purpose of export and self-sufficiency through small or medium industries or projects to achieve the desired economic growth. However, the continuity and development of those industries or projects rely on the process of continuous applied scientific research in the various technical, human, administrative or marketing project components.
According to your opinion, what are the problems facing researchers and inventors that hinder the development of their work and projects?
The most important problem facing researchers or inventors and limits their activity is the lack of a comprehensive research strategy that defines the priorities of scientific research and its fields in a way that serves the needs of the Sudanese nation’s health, education, industrial, social, economic, justice and other fields in order to achieve nation’s well-being.
Where we find that scientific research seems like insulated and most of those who deal with it live in insulation from the needs of a society that in turn does not have full faith in them, so some researchers and inventors direct their efforts to serve the issues of other societies that stimulate their efforts financially and morally, and the majority succumbed to the pressure of reality and they became employees just to earn their living.
This does not negate the fact that there are very few who still hold the kindle of scientific research derived from the promised hope. Then comes the structural research problems and its structural location within the skeletons of research institutions or institutions that include research units in how to manage scientific researches , especially the applied ones, from the time the research problem is defined until the application of its outputs.
From your point of view, how is it possible to push the economy and achieve an economic renaissance based on industries, small enterprises and entrepreneurship?
The crisis that the Sudanese economy is currently experiencing can be read through a high rate of inflation and decrease in the exchange rate of the national currency in exchange for foreign currencies, accompanied by the weakening of manufacturing or aggregate industrial institutions and the domination of the services sector on the economy without industrial and agricultural institutions as a result of the application of the distorted implementation of the free economy .
There is no way other than directing resources towards transformational industries agricultural and industrial (plant and animal) and aggregate industries through small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs and support for technical and academic education based on applied scientific research in accordance with a vision based on the needs of the Society to set out priorities through specific projects that have a detailed implementation plan that follows implementation by evaluation through clear quantitative indicators to ensure the outputs to effect the transformation from the traditional capitalist economy to knowledge economy.
What is the role assigned to the country in encouraging researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs to achieve the economic renaissance?
The most important roles of the state are belief in the role of scientific research, innovation, and entrepreneurship in achieving the renaissance, not only economic, industrial and agricultural, but also social, political and knowledge, and including faith in strategies and goals down to the projects and policies it undertakes to benefit from its outputs.
The research life requires sharpening the scientific and technical capabilities to keep pace with development, so graduate studies in both Malaysia and Thailand are highly appreciated, and many short and medium training courses have their place in good evaluation too. This applies too for scientific publishing and training .
what is the importance of specialized research centers and what are the obstacles to working in them?
Specialized research centers are beacons of change. They also plot its steps and plans, but there are many obstacles that prevent this role from developing, including: Belief in the role of these centers in developing strategies, policies and directives of executive plans by the decision-makers, as well as there are obstacles in procedural and scientific research management, especially the applied ones .
This is due to the novelty of the research experience in Sudan, which started in the second half of the last century, as outputs of higher education and before that the upper secondary schools were focused on providing practical experiences disregarding research and that was designed to meet the employment requirements in the state to keep its wheel rotating .
Also, one of the obstacles that hinder scientific research and its incubators is the weak financial and logistical support due to its low ranking in the priority of expenditures in the general budget despite the steady improvement in this aspect recently.
The efforts of the former Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research currently and the ministries that the specialized centers follow can not be mistaken, especially in the field of training. However, because the need for scientific research is increasing for funding, there is still a long way to go.
