Some 114 university staff from East Africa are set benefit from a training programme geared towards enhancing collaboration between industry and academia.
The training aims to elevate the region's technology transfer and commercialisation of research.
The initiative is being spearheaded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA).
IUCEA is an institution seeking to foster collaboration between universities in the EAC region while GIZ is a German development agency.
Beneficiaries of the programme are university staff responsible for innovation and/or technology transfer.
David Cheboryot, regional director at E4Impact Entrepreneurship Centres – Africa, pointed out that East Africa wants to be trading more and for that to happen “we need to have a lot of innovation that is coming out from universities.”
He noted that within learning institutions, it has been made almost mandatory for universities for to have innovation hubs.
“The research coming from students or even faculties is normally supposed to be applied but in most cases it remains on the shelves. You do your thesis, presentation and that is the end of it. You graduate and do not apply the research to even empower yourself or the community you come from,” he explained.
He noted that beneficiaries of the training are largely university hub managers and technology transfer officers drawn from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Cheboryot said the training seeks to empower university hub mangers to understand what it mean to run an innovation hub within a higher learning institution.
“Research to commercialisation is critical. We also want to ensure students can graduate with a job they have created for themselves or even the community where they come from,” he said.
Participants are expected to gain skills in research management, technology transfer, and the incubation and acceleration of innovative ideas.
Expected outcomes include improved management and commercialisation of Intellectual Property in Higher Education institutions.
The programme also hopes to increase awareness of creating appropriate technology transfer environments, including robust frameworks and policies.
The Incubation Leadership and Innovation Management Programme is being held at the E4Impact Hub in Karen, Nairobi.