Kampala — UGANDA's first information communication technology software cluster has concluded its second meeting in Kampala.

The meeting promised to make the city recognised as a software development hub in the Great Lakes region, by the year 2015. At the Fairway hotel last week, the cluster of more than 30 information, communication and technology firms, met to evaluate performance in their first year of existence.

The cluster is a system of interconnected firms and institutions cooperating around information technology and software, said Gorretti Amuriat, the cluster secretary.

It aims to stimulate innovativeness and competitiveness of firms while promoting economic growth in Uganda, she added.

The cluster is a result of a collaboration between three engineering institutions which include Makerere University's faculty of technology, where it is based.

A member of the cluster, Ronald Egesa,also the proprietor of Magezi solutions, said he is using the cluster to showcase and develop his telecom and mobile applications.

Hellen Karamagi said software innovations would give Uganda a competitive advantage in business outsourcing in East Africa. She said there is need for the Government to appreciate Uganda's weaknesses and strengths in information technology in promoting business sourcing. The software cluster is one of the many business innovation clusters supported by the Swedish based project, Innovation Systems Cluster Programme for Eastern Africa.

It has also been supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Swedish International Development Agency.

Since its inception last year, the cluster has spearheaded initiatives in industrial design, network administration, development and management of information systems, e-learning systems, databases, online marketing and mobile applications.