- Royal Science and Technology Park provides IT and biotech infrastructure, including data centre, incubator, contact centre and IT school, backed by special economic zone incentives.
- The park faces challenges such as funding, infrastructure readiness and skills gaps but uses innovation, training and economic incentives to drive growth.
Royal Science and Technology Park promotes IT and biotechnology
The Royal Science and Technology Park is the real name of Eswatini’s innovation hub set up by King Mswati III under the Royal Science and Technology Park Act of 2012. Planning began in 2007 with feasibility studies done by 2009 then a masterplan appeared in 2010. The park came into law in 2012. Later it was declared a Special Economic Zone by an Act in 2018. It spans about 317 hectares split into IT and biotech areas. The IT side includes the Advanced School of IT, business incubation, national data centre and a national contact centre. The biotechnology side supports research, labs and services for biotech innovation.
Royal Science and Technology Park serves investors and education
The park offers a “plug-and-play” environment with infrastructure, one-stop-shop for licences, visas, utilities and bank services. Investors get incentives such as a 20-year corporate tax holiday, foreign exchange freedom, duty exemptions and permanent residency. The IT school offers global courses, incubation space and skills training. The data centre provides PaaS, IaaS, SaaS with high security, high-speed connectivity, redundancy and remote-hand services.
Science and tech parks are rare in Southern Africa. RSTP aims to build a knowledge economy, boost human capacity and attract foreign direct investment. Challenges include high startup costs, building infrastructure in remote areas and limited local skills. The park addresses these by combining infrastructure, training and economic incentives. It uses its SEZ model to reduce barriers. It trains people at the IT school, nurtures start-ups in incubator and delivers digital infrastructure via data centre.
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Royal Science and Technology Park impacts and strategy
The park supports multiple sectors such as ICT, biotech, agro-processing, pharmaceuticals and R&D. It brings together public and private sectors to tackle unemployment and poverty. New ventures may spin off from research. It positions Eswatini to trade with SADC, COMESA, EU and AGOA partners via trade agreements.
