Science and technology are crucial for the economic development of any nation. Technology is the key driver of both enterprises and national development. There is no way a country can develop economically without making strategic efforts in generating, coordinating and transferring technology from other parts of the world. Technology transfer has shown success in various countries in the world such as Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. In order for technology transfer to be successful it should be absorbed and diffused to the recipient organization or nation. Studies carried out on technology transfer in the construction sector in 2014 indicate that there is very little technology transfer in this sector caused by lack of formal arrangements of technology transfer in government or private funded projects.In countries such as Malaysia they have an established formal arrangement for TT which includes foreign firms to partner with local firms when executing projects and preferential arrangement for firms which have entered into joint ventures with local firms or have sub contracted part of the work to local firms. The challenges facing TT in the construction sector include lack of formal arrangement, lack of funds, poor capacity of local firms and low absorption capacity.

In the mining sector despite the number of foreign direct investments increasing in this sector but their impact on technological capabilities of local mining companies are not well known. The reason for lack of sufficient technology transfer is poor linkages between foreign and local firms which calls for policies to be made to mandate and provide environment for linkages.

Technology transfer will be able bring development in Tanzania when effective policies, strategies and institutions will be in place to purposefully initiate and implement selected TT and innovation projects aimed at stimulating the national technology. Currently there is the Science and Technology Policy of 1996 which is under review and the Research and Development Policy of 2010.