In its inception, the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Research Organization (STIPRO) by then ATPS-Tanzania was a chapter of the pan African ATPS; and therefore, its history is traced back to the history of African Technology policy Studies (ATPS) Network. ATPS’s history dates back to early 1980s when IDRC supported Technology Policy Workshop series organized in three African countries.
These workshops were followed by the establishment of two regional networks – one for Eastern African countries (EATPS) where Tanzania was one of the founding members, and the network was coordinated from Tanzania. The other was for the Western African (WTPS) countries.
These networks provided competitive research grants, together with mechanisms to strengthen capacity for research and to link researchers to each other and policy makers in the area of science and technology. The two networks were brought into a single network (ATPS) in 1994 which was located within IDRC as a semi-independent secretariat.
In 2000, ATPS became an independent organization with objectives, among others, to build individual and institutional capacity in the Sub-Saharan African region. As ATPS became independent from IDRC, it advised its national chapters to register as autonomous non-governmental organizations in their own countries.
Consequently, ATPS-Tanzania was registered as an NGO in Tanzania in December 2001. In 2012, it changes its name to STIPRO (Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Research Organization) so as to increase the visibility of this policy research organization by including the word “innovation” in the name itself, among other reasons.
