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By Ben Musanje
The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has awarded more than Shs182.6 million to universities and research institutions across the country to support innovative studies in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital inclusion, and child online protection.
The funding was announced during a press conference at UCC headquarters in Bugolobi on Thursday, where UCC unveiled successful research proposals selected under the UCC Research Support and Collaboration Framework 2022–2025.
A total of nine research projects were selected for funding amounting to Shs182,630,228 after a competitive nationwide process that attracted 212 proposals from universities and tertiary institutions across Uganda.
Speaking at the event, UCC Executive Director Nyombi Thembo said the investment in university-led research is intended to strengthen evidence-based regulation in Uganda’s rapidly evolving communications sector.
“Regulation, the best practice of regulation, is evidence-based regulation,” Thembo said. “As regulators, we want to know what is happening through scientifically collected information that informs policy and regulation.”
He noted that emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital streaming, and data analytics are transforming communication, business, healthcare, education, and public service delivery, making collaboration with academia increasingly important.
“There is no way a dynamic ecosystem like the one we regulate can thrive without collaborating with universities,” he said. “Universities are custodians of knowledge.”
Thembo said the selected projects are expected to generate practical solutions that will guide policy, support innovation, and improve service delivery in Uganda’s digital economy.
“These projects are not merely academic exercises,” he said. “They are practical research efforts with the potential to generate knowledge, inform policy, support innovation, and contribute real solutions for communities, industry, and government.”
Among the priority areas highlighted by UCC is child online protection, which Thembo described as one of the most urgent challenges facing Uganda’s growing digital population.
“How do we use AI to detect children online and prevent mature content from reaching them?” he asked. “It is an open secret that children as young as nine years already have email addresses and access to social media.”
He also called for more research into how Ugandan musicians can benefit from digital streaming platforms as the entertainment industry shifts away from traditional formats such as compact discs and flash disks.
“We need innovative ways of helping Ugandan musicians benefit from the digital space,” Thembo said.
UCC Director of ICT and Research Christine Mugimba said Uganda’s communications sector is changing rapidly due to advancements in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity systems, smart infrastructure, and data analytics.
She said government and regulators must rely on local research and innovation to respond effectively to emerging challenges.
“We do not want to sit back and watch other people provide solutions for us,” Mugimba said. “We live here, we interact with these challenges here, and we are best placed to respond to them.”
Mugimba added that UCC’s long-term goal is to build a connected Uganda by 2030 through research-driven innovation and collaboration between academia, industry, and regulators.
“At UCC, we are looking to having a connected Uganda by 2030, but how you connect matters, and research is very important,” she said.
Some of the funded projects include an AI-powered medical translation tool for Luganda and English, automated waste recycling systems using artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technology, anomaly detection systems for large-scale data streams, and research on television sign language interpretation to improve accessibility for persons with disabilities.
One of the beneficiaries is Busitema University, whose project focuses on privacy preservation in mobile networks using machine learning.
Presenting the research proposal, principal investigator at Busitema Univeristy Ignatius Balayo said Uganda’s growing mobile phone and mobile money usage has created major privacy and cybersecurity concerns due to the large volumes of sensitive data generated daily.
According to figures cited during the presentation, Uganda currently has more than 41.6 million active mobile subscriptions and a mobile money adoption rate of about 78 percent.
Balayo explained that many existing machine learning systems rely on centralized servers that expose users’ personal information to cyber threats and unauthorized access.
“Existing models deployed in Uganda often send sensitive data offshore for processing, and there is currently no privacy-preserving machine learning framework tailored to the Ugandan context,” he said.
The Busitema University research team plans to develop a federated learning framework that allows artificial intelligence systems to operate without transferring raw user data from individual devices to central servers.
Balayo said the research will help strengthen cybersecurity governance and support implementation of Uganda’s Data Protection and Privacy Act.
“Our main objective is to investigate how privacy-preserving machine learning can enhance user data security in mobile networks without compromising performance,” he said.
Mugimba urged all successful researchers to ensure their studies remain practical, ethical, and inclusive, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence.
“In the field of AI, if you already have bias and you pile it on bias, that becomes a dangerous combination,” she cautioned.
She also encouraged researchers to publish their findings internationally to strengthen Uganda’s presence in global innovation and academic circles.
Despite the competitive process, Thembo congratulated all 212 applicants, including those whose proposals were not selected, saying innovative ideas often evolve into future breakthroughs.
“A proposal may not qualify today, but it might become a very big proposal tomorrow,” he said. “That is how Silicon Valley was built.”
With Uganda’s digital economy expanding rapidly, UCC officials say the partnership between universities, researchers, industry, and regulators will play a critical role in shaping safer technologies, smarter regulation, and homegrown innovation. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
