The East African Science and Technology Commission (EASTECO) has been established as a semi-autonomous institution of the EAC by the 5th Extra-ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State held on 18th June 2007, in accordance with Chapter 16, Article 103 (a) of the Treaty on the Establishment of the East African Community, where the Partner States undertook to promote cooperation in the development of Science & Technology within the Community.

EASTECO is composed with a Secretariat and a Governing Board, and it is governed by the Protocol on the establishment of the East African Science and Technology Commission, 2007, which provides for the objectives, functions, composition, and the administrative and financial provisions of the Commission

The operationalization of the Commission was finalized in 2015 with a Secretariat appointed therefor and the EASTECO Headquarters offices are in Kigali, Rwanda, as per the relevant Headquarters Agreement between the republic of Rwanda and the East African Community.

The main objective of the Commission is to promote and coordinate the development, management and application of Science and Technology in the Partner States (composed with the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of Uganda).

Therefore EASTECO has an overall function of coordinating and facilitating the activities of the EAC Partner States and national science and technology institutions to promote the development and application of science, technology and innovation in all its aspects.

The first activities of the Commission was started with the financial year 2015/2016, from July 2015 to June 2106.